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LIBRARY OF CONGRESS, 



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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



"Xr 



ENGLISH AND AMERICAN 



LITERATURE 



FOB 



SCHOOLS AND COLLEGES 



BY 



- , 



HORACE H. MORGAN, LL.D., 

Formerly Principal of the St. Louis High School; Author of Repre- 
sentative Names in English Literature, Literary Studies from 
the Great British Authors, Topical Shakespeariana, etc. 



I 



1 



1 




LEACH, SHEWELL, & SANBORN, 

Boston and New York. 



ML3 



Copyright, 1889, by 
Leach, Shewell, & Sanborn. 



C. J. Peters & Son, 

Typographers and Electrotypers, 

145 High Street, Boston. 



JOHN BASCOM, D.D., LL.D., 

Late Chancellor of the University of Wisconsin, 

this 

ENGLISH LITERATURE 

Iq ©etucatetj. 



PREFACE. 



The growing interest in the study of English literature 
has multiplied the number of manuals and books of speci- 
mens, and thus increased the probability of reaching many 
circles of students. But, as the wants of mankind are as 
various as their temperaments and their interests, there 
seems reason to believe, that, despite the excellences of 
books which have already been offered to the public, there 
is an office to be filled by one which shall meet wants not 
adequately recognized in such efforts as have already been 
made. It is not to be supposed that this book will satisfy 
the needs of all students without reference to their matur- 
ity; nor is it the expectation that it will be entirely 
exempt from criticism. It is put forward as a practical 
working text-book for schools and colleges, as well as for 
the general reader. 

To attempt to include within a single volume specimens 
of the writings of even a few of the standard authors, in 
number, length, and variety sufficient to convey to the 
student any adequate idea of their style, their method of 
treating a subject, and the purpose for which they wrote, 
would make a volume too large and costly, if not object- 
ionable on other grounds. It is believed that complete 
compositions rather than fragments are desirable, and that 
teachers often, if not generally, will prefer to make their 
own selection^ for study from among the masterpieces, a 



VI PREFACE. 

great variety of which can be obtained in a convenient 
and inexpensive form. 

Any criticism which shows defect of plan, or inaccuracy 
in execution will be used in any revisions which the book 
may undergo, should it otherwise find favor. The manu- 
script has been criticised and revised by eminent special- 
ists and teachers in the field of literature, to whom the 
thanks of the author and the publishers are extended. 

Distinctive Features of the Book. 

I. The great British authors to whom we owe the 
masterpieces of our literature are presented in such a 
way that no reasonable question concerning them remains 
unanswered. 

II. Subordinate to these authors are those less famous 
with whom all but the most superficial students should be 
acquainted, and who would necessarily be excluded in a 
briefer consideration of our literature. 

III. Authors belonging to "the literature of knowl- 
edge," rather than to "the literature of power," writers 
whose services must always be remembered in any complete 
history of literature, these, together with their works, are 
mentioned in the introductory paragraphs of each chapter. 

IV. English authors have been chronologically divided 
into six groups for the purpose of giving the student a 
clearer idea of what writers were contemporaneous, and, 
at the same time, effectively to present the movement dur- 
ing each epoch. It is believed that the classification is a 
natural one, and that while doing no violence to similar 
and well-settled plans, it more exactly discriminates the 
periods of actual change in the literary spirit. 



PREFACE. VLL 

The six eras are thus distinguished : 

1. From Chaucer to Spenser — the beginnings of English literature. 

2. From Spenser to Milton — generally, but less exactly called the 

Elizabethan age. 

3. From Milton to Dryden — a brief period, but one essentially 

distinct from any other era. 

4. From Dryden to Johnson — a period usually separated into two ; 

the one represented by Dryden, and the other by Pope. But 
as Dryden is most certainly the founder of the school in 
which Pope became the master, this division tends to confuse, 
rather than to aid. 

5. From Johnson to Cowper — the period of transition towards 

modern times. 

6. From Cowper to the Present Time — literature which we read 

without thought of chronology. 

V. The preliminary chapter, which treats of literature, 
the study of literature, and the qualities of fine writing, 
will, it is hoped, render more possible to the student, that 
appreciation of literary beauties which is certainly the 
object of such a study. 

VI. The biographies have been written with the view 
of including all that is essential, and of excluding all that 
is non-essential to the full appreciation of the place and 
work of the author in the field of literature. 

VII. Any attempt at originality has been freely sacri- 
ficed in the endeavor to secure what will prove permanently 
useful, and, whenever practicable, citations have been made 
from the works of standard critics. 

VIII. An attempt has been made to introduce as much 
variety as is consistent with the fact that about the same 
kind of information is desired in regard to each author. 
As the book is to be studied and not merely read, general 
statements are not often repeated. 



Vlll PREFACE. 

IX. It is assumed that any one that uses a history of 
literature will supplement it by an acquaintance with selec- 
tions from the authors presented. The office of a manual 
is to prepare one for the study of the works of the best 
writers and not as a substitute for it. The higher school 
readers ivill generally furnish selections if other resources 
are lacking. 

X. The bibliography aims to present the most helpful 
references for teacher and student. As an aid to further 
study an attempt has been made to present a student's refer- 
ence library, and no teacher of literature should be igno- 
rant of the principal books named. 

After attention has once been called to a work of refer- 
ence, as for example, Lippincott, or Allibone, it has not 
been considered necessary to repeat the reference, unless 
essential to the study of a particular author. 

XI. The experience of many years has shown that 
young persons can compass the work herein outlined, and 
that sufficient assistance is furnished to enable one to pursue 
the study of literature without other help. The finality 
of untrained judgment is at least as dangerous as " author- 
ity in matters of literary belief." 

XII. In Part II. the aim has been to present the 
better-known American writers, and through the tables to 
furnish a general survey of the field of American litera- 
ture. Doubtless there are omissions, for a writer's literary 
rank is a matter upon which an author and his critics may 
widely differ. 



CONTENTS. 



PART I. 
ENGLISH LITERATURE. 

CHAPTER PAGE 

I. Literature 1 

II. First Era: from Chaucer to Spenser. ... 9 
History of English Language, 9; Minor Authors, 14; 
Chaucer, 15. 

III. Second Era: from Spenser to Milton. ... 24 
General View, 24; History of Drama, 26; Minor Au- 
thors, 28 ; Spenser, 28 ; Bacon, 34 ; Shakespeare, 38 ; 
Marlowe, 46; Jonson, 48; Beaumont and Fletcher, 
51; Massinger, 53. 

IY. Third Era: from Milton to Dryden .... 55 
General Yiew, 55; Minor Authors, 56; Milton, 56. 
Y. Fourth Era: frOxM Dryden to Johnson ... 63 
General Yiew, 63; Minor Authors, 64; History of 
Authorship, 65; Dryden, 67; Addison, 70; Pope, 73; 
DeFoe, 77; Swift, 78. 

YI. Fifth Era: from Johnson to Cowper .... 81 
General Yiew, 81; Minor Authors, 81; Fielding, 82; 
Johnson, 84; Hume, 87; Gray, 90; Kobertson, 92; 
Goldsmith, 94; Gibbon, 96; Chesterfield, 98; Thom- 
son, 99; Sterne, 100; Burke, 101. 

YII. Sixth Era : from Cowper to the Present Time . . 104 
General Yiew, 104; Minor Authors, 105; Schools of 
Poetry, 106; Fiction, 107; Cowper, 108; Burns, 110; 
Wordsworth, 112; Coleridge, 115; Scott, 119; Byron, 
121; Shelley, 125; Keats, 127; Hallam, 129; Macau- 
lay, ISO; Bulwer, 132; Carlyle, 133; De Quincey, 
137; E. B. Browning, 139 ; Tennyson, 142; E. Brown- 
ing, 144; Dickens, 149; Thackeray, 151; Grote, 152; 
Eliot, 154; Southey, 156; Campbell, 158; Moore, 159; 
Jeffrey, 160; Lingard, 162; Lamb, 162; Hazlitt, 165; 
Hood, 167; Croly, 170; Alison, 171; Kuskin, 172; 
Froude, 173. 



CONTENTS. 



PAET II. 

AMEEICAN LITEEATUEE. 

CHAPTER PAGE 

VIII. Poets of America 177 

General View, 177; Bryant, 178; Longfellow, 180; 
Poe, 185; Whittier, 187; Holmes, 190; Lowell, 191; 
Taylor, 194; Minor Poets, 196; List of American 
Poets, 200. 

IX. Essayists 209 

The Essay, 209; Emerson, 210; Irving, 214; Franklin, 
217; Essayists, 218; List of Essayists and Histori- 
ans, 225. 

Historians 229 

Supplementary List, 234. 

X. Writers of Fiction 239 

Cooper, 239; Hawthorne, 241; Stowe, 243; Minor 
Writers, 244; Supplementary List, 252. 

XL Histories of Literature, Anthologies, etc. . . 257 
Humorists, 259 ; Juvenile Literature, 260. 

Index to English Authors 261 

Index to American Authors 263 



PART I. 



ENGLISH LITERATURE. 



CHAPTER I. 

LITEEATUEE. 

Literature is a term often used as synonymous with the 
written product of thought; but in its special sense it 
is limited to what is known as Belles-lettres or such 
writing, as is distinguished for beauty of expression. The 
complement of literature is science ; the latter seeks 
directly to convey positive knowledge, the former to in- 
crease our culture, — to give us breadth of thought and 
ease of expression. In a mathematical demonstration, or in 
a scientific investigation, beauty of style is either unattain- 
able, or is disregarded ; the end sought is an increase of 
our positive knowledge : in a poem, a literary essay, or a 
history, beauty of expression is indispensable, and the end 
is to reach the spiritual man rather than to increase the 
comforts of material existence. A literary work, or an 
example of literature, must comply with the principles of 
its own art-form — the thought and the form must be so 
wedded that they cannot, without destruction, be dis- 
joined ; the creator of literature, even if he do not add to 
our positive knowledge, must give us — 

1 



Z ENGLISH AND AMERICAN LITERATURE. 

"Nature to advantage dressed, 
What oft was thought, but ne'er so well expressed." 

In a poem, the purest of literary forms, instruction is 
only incidental, as the poet expresses the feelings which 
arise within him, and we respond with our sympathy, 
because he but gives utterance to emotions that have been 
or that at once become ours. In an essay, or in a history, 
the pleasure we receive from its literary merits, is due to 
the author's felicity of expression. 

The Study of Literature requires that the student 
should gain an acquaintance with the works which consti- 
tute this literature, so that he may reach a clear under- 
standing and a perfect possession of (1) the historical 
connection of literary works, (2) a grouping of the results 
attained and attainable through literature, and (3) the 
secret of each author's strength. To make this acquaint- 
ance extensive requires many years of faithful study, — 
the price of success in any direction of mental effort. 
But by confining the attention to characteristic efforts of 
representative authors, it will be found possible within the 
narrow limits of a school course, to convey an accurate 
though slight knowledge of the master minds, and of 
their principal works and marked characteristics. In addi- 
tion to this there can be communicated a clear insight 
into the main conditions of the development of our litera- 
ture, and the pupil can be furnished with such criteria as 
shall guide his efforts in the accomplishment of any special 
aim. To this end, the pupil should carefully study the 
works of a few authors, and, having thus acquired skill in 
the use of each critical test, he can form distinct ideas of 
other authors by examining characteristic extracts from 
their works. If we do not forget that school life is ex- 



LITERATUBE. 3 

pected to provide us with the elements of a general educa- 
tion, rather than to complete it, we shall find it possible to 
acquire the means by which we may later reach all attain- 
able ends. 

Criticism is the only means of acquiring an intelligent 
acquaintance with literature ; and, while profound criticism 
is possible only to mature and careful special students, 
there is nothing to forbid the less exhaustive efforts of 
others who have yet to possess themselves of the literary 
treasures of the world. Criticism, or judgment, may occupy 
itself with the rhetoric, the art-form, or with the outcome ; 
that is, we may, for example, consider Longfellow's " Ex- 
celsior " with reference to its language, to the clearness 
and distinctness of the single picture which every poem 
should present, or to the nature and relative value of the 
picture after our imagination has seized it. 

Rhetorical Criticism regards (1) the use of words, (2) 
the construction of sentences, (3) the beauty and cor- 
rectness of figurative language, if such be employed. If 
the subject of criticism is a poem, there will be these 
additional considerations : (1) rhyme (unless blank verse 
be used), (2) metre, (3) rhythm. Surely the understand- 
ing of all these subjects is open to every one ; and critical 
skill in this direction is possible to all who will expend the 
requisite time and labor. 

Esthetic Criticism regards the art-form, or the success 
of the author in realizing his own conceptions ; unity of 
idea is essential to an art-form, and to this all the elements 
must be subordinated. Criticism of this kind is farther 
removed from the ordinary occupations of young scholars, 
but it is certainly possible for them to appreciate the rudi- 
ments of this training, and it will be recognized as desir- 



4 ENGLISH AND AMERICAN LITERATURE. 

able when we reflect that it is only from this point of view 
that one can see the higher claims of what is distinctively 
called literature. 

The Third Form of Criticism, which may be called 
Philosophic Criticism, seeks to discover the relations of 
literary effort to the other efforts of mankind. This kind 
of criticism is nearer to us than we generally imagine, and 
is involved in the ever-present, but sometimes unasked, 
question, " What kind and amount of value has this book, 
and why should one be acquainted with it? " 

Of course the reader will understand that the same 
person may make use of these three forms of criticism, 
and that his use of any one of them may be complete or 
incomplete : for example, in Rhetorical Criticism he may 
pay due respect to each element of a trustworthy judg- 
ment, or he may select a single element, as Perspicuity, 
and pronounce judgment solely with reference to the 
presence or absence of this single quality of a good style. 

Elements of Rhetorical Criticism. Having now ex- 
plained the different kinds of criticism, we proceed to put 
into the reader's possession the means of discovering ex- 
cellence or faultiness in any writer. 

Purity. First, as language is intended to convey thought, 
will, or feeling, the separate words should be pure and pre- 
cise. Purity is the term used to distinguish the words 
which belong to an idiomatic use of English : it is de- 
manded by the fact that the reader is not to be supposed 
to know any tongue other than that of the writer ; and its 
recognition will exclude slang expressions, colloquialisms, 
and words which belong to languages other than English. 
Dean Swift, Addison, De Foe, and Cowper represent the 
highest excellence in Purity ; and Bulwer well illustrates 
the absence of this quality. 



LITERATURE. O 

Precision of Language is the term employed by rhetori- 
cians, to express the use of the right word in the right 
place; its observance will exclude (1) words expressing 
not the idea intended, but one which resembles it; (2) 
words expressing the idea, but incompletely; (3) words 
expressing the idea intended and something more. Dean 
Swift and Coleridge represent marked excellence in Pre- 
cision; while, if we disregard the intention, Mrs. Partington 
may illustrate the entire absence of the quality. 

But it is not enough that the separate words be well 
chosen ; they must be properly united into sentences, and 
in turn these sentences must be so combined as to produce 
the best rhetorical effect. In examining the construction 
of the sentence we must regard : (1) Unity, (2) Perspicuity, 
(8) Propriety, (4) Variety, (5) Vivacity, (6) Harmony. 

The Unity of the sentence requires that it contain but 
a single subject of thought, and that the clauses which 
form the parts of the sentence have a common connection ; 
unity is destroyed by a variety of subjects or of circum- 
stances. 

Perspicuity, or clearness, requires, in addition to unity, 
the use of such idiomatic constructions as forbid misunder- 
standing ; a regard for perspicuity will forbid carelessness 
in placing modifying words or clauses, and the use of the 
same word in different senses, or of different words in the 
same sense. 

Propriety requires the use of such words and phrases 
as the best usage has devoted to the expression of the 
ideas to be communicated. A regard for this essential 
element of good writing will condemn all equivocal or 
ambiguous expressions, and the use of unintelligible, or 
inconsistent terms and phrases. 



b ENGLISH AND AMERICAN LITERATURE. 

Variety will demand that the writer should change the 
structure, in so far as change is rendered possible by a 
regard for unity, perspicuity, and propriety. Macaulay 
may represent excellence, while Gibbon grows monotonous 
through uniformity. 

Vivacity, or liveliness of expression, will best be secured 
by employing specific words, in preference to those which 
are abstract or general. 

Harmony, or the adaptation of the sound to the thought 
or feeling to be expressed, is to be attained, first, by the 
choice of harmonious words ; and, second, by their arrange- 
ment, so that they shall be most easy or most difficult of 
utterance, according to the idea to be expressed. 

The prose essays of De Quincey probably present the 
finest specimens of harmonious prose ; while Carlyle may 
represent the absence of this quality. 

Rhetorical criticism will still farther take account of 
figurative language, or language which intentionally de- 
viates from the ordinary modes of expression, — a language 
prompted by imagination or passion. Passing by figures 
of Orthography (as o'er for over'), of Orthoepy (as the 
pronunciation wind for wind), and of Syntax, we find 
in Rhetoric : (1) Metaphor, which may be made to include 
the simile, or comparison ; (2) Hyperbole, or Exaggeration ; 
(3) Personification ; (4) Apostrophe ; (5) Antithesis ; (6) 
Interrogation ; (7) Exclamation ; (8) Vision, and (9) Am- 
plification. The test of the excellence of a figure is always 
(1) its aid in making the thought expressed clearer or 
more vivid, (2) its addition of beauty. By familiarizing 
himself with this double office of figurative language, the 
reader will be able easily to discover the peculiarities, the 
strength and the weakness of each writer, in so far as he 
employs figurative language. 



LITERATURE. 7 

In poetry we deal with three additional elements : (1) 
Metre, (2) Rhyme, (3) Rhythm. 

Metre in English is the regular recurrence of accented 
or unaccented syllables, and it varies according to the unit 
assumed as the standard of measure. The various metres 
take their names partly from the prevailing foot, or com- 
bination of accented and unaccented syllables, and partly 
from the number of feet, or measures, in a line. 

The names used in Greek prosody are also used in 
describing English verse. Hence we speak of Monometers, 
Dimeters, Trimeters, Tetrameters, Pentameters, and Hex- 
ameters according as the measures in a line vary from one 
to six. Greek names are also used in describing poetical 
feet, the most common being Iambus, Trochee, Anapest, 
Dactyl, and Amphibrach. The following are examples of 
the more common metres : 

Iambic Hexameter . . Our sweet' | -fist songs' | are those' | that tell' | 

Of sad' | -dSst thought. 
Iambic Pentameter, ) The cur | -f6w tolls | the knell | of part | 
or Heroic Verse ) -ing day. 

Trochaic Tetrameter . Raving | winds' a | -round' h6r | blow'ing. 
Anapestic Trimeter . I am mon' | -arch Of all' | I survey'. 
Dactylic Dimeter . . . Come' in yOur | war'-array. 
Amphibrachic ) Hearts beat'mg 

Monometer )' ' At meet'ing. 

English measures rarely exceed the pentameter, al- 
though many skilful versifiers have attempted to write 
hexameter; in the case of apparent exceptions, it will be 
found easy to resolve the measures into combinations of 
the first five. The full treatment of English metres must 
be sought in special treatises, but enough has been said to 
enable the student to form a judgment upon metrical 
essays. 



8 ENGLISH AND AMERICAN LITERATURE. 

Rhyme is the agreement of sound in words or syllables, 
and while usually found only at the end of lines, may occur 
in other positions. Perfect rhyme must fulfil two condi- 
tions : (1) the rhymed words or syllables must agree in 
the place of the accent, in the sound of the vowels, and in 
that of the letters following the vowel sounds ; (2) the 
parts of the word preceding the vowel sound must differ. 
Rhymes to illustrate failure in each of these respects are as 
follows : try and merrily, command' and brand, breathe 
and teeth, heart, and art (since h is but a breathing). 
Moore and Tennyson are the best rhymers among our great 
poets, while Pope more frequently pushes license beyond 
proper bounds. 

Rhythm is the combination of sounds into harmony, 
or the movement in musical time ; skill in securing rhythm 
distinguishes the work of him to whom versification is a 
natural form, from the mechanically correct work of the 
mere metrist. 

A comparison of a few lines from Tennyson, with an 
extract from Mrs. Browning, will do much to make plain 
the difference between perfect success and substantial 
failure in rhythm on the part of two eminent poets. 

We have now presented the materials for forming a 
judgment of literary work, so far as concerns the rhetorical 
elements. Style is the formal essential of literature, and 
may be briefly defined as agreement with the principles of 
correct and elegant composition. A literary style will pre- 
sent the perfect and indissoluble union of the thought and 
the expression. 



CHAPTER II. 

FIRST ERA: FROM CHAUCER TO SPENSER. (1340-1579.) 

The English Language is divided by philologists into 
Old, Middle, and Modern : the first extending from 1250- 
1350; the second, from 1350-1575; and the third, from 
1575 to the present time. It will be readily understood 
that as all changes are gradual, the limits selected are arbi- 
trary yet sufficiently accurate for our convenience. The 
first people of historical significance in England are the 
Angles and the Saxons, who are supposed to have taken 
possession of the country ajbout 449 A. D. The language 
of these peoples replaced that of the original Celts, while 
the influence of the Danish invaders was very slight. The 
language generally called the Anglo-Saxon forms the body 
of our present speech ; it supplies the grammatical struct- 
ure, and the greater part of the vocabulary. In 1066 the 
Normans took possession of England, and for a time Nor- 
man-French became the language of the governing class, 
while Anglo-Saxon continued to be the speech of the com- 
monalty. As the Normans became anglicized, there began 
the adoption of English as their language — English being 
the modification of the prevalent form of Anglo-Saxon, 
by the introduction of forms and words from the French. 
By the beginning of the second period (1350), the founda- 
tions of our grammatical system had been laid, and the 
forms of words were to a large extent established ; during 
this period, the increase of the vocabulary was drawn from 



10 ENGLISH AND AMERICAN LITERATURE. 

the French. At the beginning of the third period, we find 
the language settled, and differing from our present speech 
in those peculiarities which are constantly appearing and 
disappearing in a living tongue. The writings of the " pre- 
historic period " in literature need not concern us ; and we 
may replace any consideration of them by a statement of 
the situation when Chaucer appeared, and of the results 
accomplished by him. 

Before Chaucer, the English had been used rather as the 
medium of speech than as a vehicle for literary communi- 
cation ; so that " there was wanted some one not only en- 
dowed with poetic genius, and an intellect cultivated with 
the best scholarship of the age, but also, in addition to the 
love of books, familiarity with the human heart gained by 
intercourse with men in the arena of actual life." A 
language sufficient only for the expression of our daily 
wants is evidently unsuitable for the uses of literary 
efforts, as will appear by the attempt to translate any well- 
written extract into such a language, or by noticing the 
defects of Cowper, whose attempts were made under the 
most favorable circumstances. The formation of a lit- 
erary language, a Herculean labor, was in great part per- 
formed by Chaucer ; the versification was to be perfected 
and put into permanent form by the selection of such meas- 
ures as suited the genius of the English tongue, and by the in- 
troduction of additional measures as, for example, the Heroic 
Measure. The additions to our versified forms since the 
time of Chaucer have not been numerous, and have mainly 
consisted of modifications of the schemes employed by him. 

In Politics the first part of the fourteenth century was 
marked by the battles of Crecy and Poictiers — a period of 
national glory and general activity. During the latter 



FIRST ERA: FROM CHAUCER TO SPENSER. 11 

part of the same century there were frequent manifesta- 
tions of discontent on the part of the people ; evidence that 
evils were becoming unbearable, and that a period of transi- 
tion was at hand. Abuses were felt far and wide, and as 
the evils were brought home to the everyday life of men, 
reform was seen to be needful. The translation of the 
Bible by Wyckliffe familiarized the people with a written 
language, tended to insure a common vocabulary, and by 
exciting the intellectual faculties upon religious topics, 
qualified them for use in other directions. 

The introduction of printing increased both the num- 
ber who desired to read, and the number who desired to 
write. Caxton published sixty-three works (two in French, 
seven in Latin, three with Latin titles and English con- 
tents, and the remaining fifty-one in English) ; this number, 
large for so early a period, would seem to show a literary 
public of no inconsiderable extent. The translation of 
the Bible by William Tyndale, 1525, continued the work 
begun by Wyckliffe ; Cranmer's compilation of the Book 
of Common Prayer (now used in the Protestant Episcopal 
church) still further extended and refined the language ; 
the introduction (from Italy) by the Earl of Surrey of the 
sonnet and of blank verse increased our poetical resources, 
while his treatment of the language rendered it more per- 
fect. The translations from the Latin at once increased the 
general information, and rendered the language more flexi- 
ble. The two great influences — the Protestant Reforma- 
tion, and the Revival of Classical Learning — were at this 
time injurious, and the great results due to them do not 
appear until the next century. The Reformation was too 
vital and too real not to absorb, to the exclusion of literary 
efforts, the interests and energies of men of mind; and 



12 ENGLISH AND AMERICAN LITERATURE. 

Classical Learning, while yet a novelty, drew attention 
from the cultivation of the language. The presence of 
learned men, the influence of the universities, the frequency 
of communication between England and continental Europe, 
all united to attract public attention to the works of classi- 
cal writers. These two great influences — an absorbing 
interest in religious topics, and the excessive admiration 
of the new found treasures of Rome and Greece — added 
to the civil wars and the repression of inquiry, sufficiently 
account for the small amount of literary work, and the 
inferior character of the literature which was produced. 
The good results are shown in greater mental activity, 
better models in style, and larger resources, as made mani- 
fest in the magnificent outburst which distinguishes what 
is commonly known as the Elizabethan Age. 

Out of the confusion resulting from the conquest of 
Rome by the northern barbarians, finally arose in the north 
of France the Langue cC Oil, and in the south of the same 
country the Langue cC Oc. Literature, having a new instru- 
mentality, found new thoughts to express. In the latter 
dialect wrote the Troubadours, inditing lyrics as genuine 
as any that the world possesses : in the former, the Trou- 
veres composing long romances. The Arabian conquests 
also, extending far into Europe, introduced the Saracenic 
culture, at that time the most profound and the most 
elegant attainable. To the Arabians is attributable the 
prevalence of rhyme in modern poetry. The combination 
of these influences, and their illumination by the glories of 
Christianity, culminated in Italy in the poetry of Dante 
and Petrarch. The writings of Chaucer abundantly show 
how eagerly he drank at the fountains of Troubadour and 
of Trouvere; but the influence of these upon him was 



FIRST ERA: FROM CHAUCER TO SPENSER. 13 

overmastered by the deeper influence of the poetry of 
Italy. " We have on record his adoration of ' Francis 
Petrarch, the laureate poet,' and of that other wise poet 
of Florence, ' hight Dantes.' From Boccaccio he imitated, 
as masters alone imitate, that incomparable composition, 
the ' Knight's Tale,' also the beautiful story of c Gri- 
seldis,' and probably the ' Troilus and Cressid.' In the 
latter he has inserted a sonnet of Petrarch's ; but it is not 
so much to his direct adoptions that I refer, as to the 
general modulation of thought, that clear softness of his 
images, that energetic self-possession of his conceptions, and 
that melodious repose in which are held together all the 
emotions he delineates " [J.. H. Hallam]. The later devel- 
opment of Italian poetry, Ariosto, Tasso, and Pulci, more 
exclusively based upon the romances of the Trouveres, 
and written when the fresh impulse derived from the 
renewed study of antiquity had spent its first force, dis- 
plays plainly its effects upon the English mind. Ascham, 
in his " Schoolmaster," informs us that about his time a 
number of translations from the Italian had been made. 
Surrey derives from Italy the sonnet; Fletcher imitates 
the Italian pastoral poetry; Spenser treads in the foot- 
steps of Ariosto, and returns to the nobler inspiration of 
Petrarch, in the Hymns to Heavenly Love and Beauty; 
Shakespeare gives the world his incomparable sonnets, or 
borrows, like the other dramatists, the plots of plays ; in 
either case, the Italian influence is manifest, 1 and Milton 
drinks deep at the spring of Italian literature, as well as at 
every other fount. But in the age succeeding Milton, the 
Italian influence is superseded by the French logical regu- 

1 The poets in the Elizabethan Era introduced a great variety of 
measures from the Italian, particularly in the lyrical pieces of that time. 



14 ENGLISH AND AMERICAN LITERATURE. 

larity of Boileau and the dramatists of the age of Louis 
XIV., and by the light profligacy imported from France 
by Charles II. and his court. In the second great outburst 
of English literature, beginning with Wordsworth and 
Byron, and lasting through our time, the Italian influence 
again makes itself felt. The poets mentioned, as also 
Shelley, the Brownings, Landor, and Tennyson, infuse the 
Italian passion and religious feeling into the products of 
their art. 

In our First Era, 1340-1579, the writers whose names 
are essential to the completeness of a history of literature 
are Gower, Mandeville, Wyckliffe, Udall, Sackville, More, 
Surrey, Hey wood, and Caxton. Gower may be remembered 
as the friend and contemporary of Chaucer. Sir John 
de Mandeville wrote a history of his travels in the Orient, 
and this book was the first work in English prose (1356). 
John Wyckliffe is best known as a religious reformer, and 
finds a place in the history of literature because of the 
influence exerted upon the language by his translation of 
the Bible (1380) ; this translation was the first in English, 
and for nearly one hundred and fifty years it stimulated 
men's minds, and made them familiar with literary expres- 
sion. Nicholas Udall gave us in 1551 the first known 
English comedy — "Ralph Royster Doyster." Thomas 
Sackville, ten years later, furnished, under the name of 
" Gorbiduc," the first English tragedy. Sir Thomas More 
(1513) is most frequently mentioned as the author of a Latin 
political romance which was called " Utopia " (or nowhere), 
from the location of his ideal republic ; but holds his place 
in a history of literature in virtue of " The History of 
King Edward the Fifth," our first specimen of English 
prose history. Thomas Surrey introduced (from Italy) 



FIRST ERA : FROM CHAUCER TO SPENSER. 15 

the sonnet and blank verse. John Heywood was the 
earliest known writer of interludes (1532). William 
Caxton was an author, but his strongest claims upon the 
student arise from his introduction of printing into Eng- 
land (1474), and from his labors as a publisher. 

These names may sufficiently represent the contempo- 
raries and successors of Chaucer, while the changes in the 
language and the influences which determined the course 
of the literature have been stated briefly, but, as it is 
hoped, fully. 

Chaucer. 
Geoffrey Chaucer was born in 1328 (or 1340), and died 
in 1400. That his parentage i was noble is evident from his 
prominent position at court; any ignorance in regard to 
the details of his personal biography is atoned for by the 
certainty of his possessing the world's literary treasures. 
The positions which Chaucer occupied under King Edward 
III. show him to have been an able "practical man," while 
his poems show him to have been : (1) a well-read man, in a 
period when illiteracy was fashionable ; (2) a clear thinker, 
in an age when scholarship in literature was prone to 
replace thought ; (3) a man of close observation, and of a 
warm, generous, human sympathy, in an era when none of 
these qualities were common. Chaucer is thus described 
by Lowell : " A healthy and hearty man ; so genuine, that 
we need not ask whether he were genuine or no ; so sincere, 
as to quite forget his own sincerity ; so truly pious, that 
he could be happy in the best world that God chose to 
make ; so human, that he loved even the foibles of his 
kind. The pupil of manifold experience, scholar, courtier, 
soldier, ambassador, who had known poverty as a house- 



16 ENGLISH AND AMERICAN LITERATURE. 

mate and been the companion of princes, — his was one of 
those happy temperaments that could equally enjoy both 
halves of culture, — the world of books and the world of 
men." 

Chaucer's poems are numerous, and will well repay the 
struggle with the old English which he uses. 

The Canterbury Tales represent Chaucer's most mature 
efforts, but his Minor Poems are at once more easy to 
deal with, and more satisfactory to the general reader. 
The chronology of his poems is not certainly known, but 
following in the steps of the Chaucer Society, we may 
assign them to four periods. 

Period I. (French influence), extends to 1372, and 
includes Chaucer's A, B, C, — a devotional poem addressed 
to the Virgin Mary. 

The Death of the Duchess Blanche, — a picture of con- 
jugal love and a favorite with many of Chaucer's poetical 
successors. 
• The Complaint of the Death to Pity. 

Period II. (Italian influence), 1372-1381.— The Par- 
liament of Fowls — an allegorical representation of different 
forms of love. 

The Former Age — a praise of the "good old days," or 
the dispraise of times then present. 

The Complaint of Mars — Mars as a love-sick swain. 

The Complaint of the Fair Anelyda and the False Arcite 
— Anelyda the type of the devoted wife whose husband 
was knightly but in name. 

Translation of Boethius's De Consolatione Philosophic. 

Words to Adam, his Scrivener (advising him to mind 
his own special business). 

Troilus and Cressida — a new adaptation of a story 



FIRST ERA: FROM CHAUCER TO SPENSER. 17 

as old as Homer, and a picture of loyalty in love, to- 
gether with the portraiture of one of our most beauti- 
ful women of fiction. This poem has always been a 
favorite with those to whom Chaucer's poetry was a real 
possession. 

The House of Fame — an allegorical poem, showing 
how the deeds of all, good or bad, are carried to pos- 
terity. This poem is marked by very striking descriptive 
passages. 

Period III. (English influence), 1381-1389. — The 
Legend of Good Women — a series of studies upon the 
theme of the devotion of woman and the cruel inconstancy 
of man. The poems composing the legend are more 
modern in style and more easily read than any of his other 
poems ; they furthermore compose a gallery of exquisite 
portraits of noble women. 

Good Counsel of Chaucer (or the Praise of Truth). 

Prayer to the Virgin. 

A Proverb (concerning avarice). 

Period IV. (Chaucer's Maturity), 1389-1400. — A 
Treatise on the Astrolabe (intended for the education of 
Chaucer's son). 

The Complaint of Venus — an adaptation of Greek myth- 
ology to Christian times. 

Lines to Scogan (recommending that " a shoemaker stick 
to his last"). 

Lines to Bukton (upon the topic of marriage). 

Ballad on Gentleness (or true gentility). 

Ballad to King Richard (a lament over the degeneracy 
of the times). 

Complaint to his Purse (a representation of the poet's 
poverty). 



18 ENGLISH AND AMERICAN LITERATURE. 

Village without Painting. 

The Canterbury Tales were written at different periods : 
to Period I. are assigned the Tales told by the Second 
Nun, the Prioress, the Man of Law, the Clerk, the Doc- 
tor, the Knight, the Squire, and the Franklin ; to Period 
II. the Tales "told by the Nun's Priest, the Miller, the 
Reeve, the Cook, the Merchant, the Wife of Bath, the 
Shipman, the Manciple, the Friar, the Sompnour, and 
the Pardoner; to Period III. belong the arrangement 
of the stories into one consistent whole, the Prologue, 
and the Tales told by Sir Thopas, Melibeus, the Monk, 
and the Parson. 

The stones which at present seem to be the invention 
of Chaucer are those of the Host, the Friar, Sir Thopas, 
the Prioress, the Parson, the Canon Yeoman and the 
Cook. 

The Canterbury Tales have been referred to as the most 
mature work of Chaucer ; though unfinished, they are not 
incomplete. They find their external unity in the pilgrimage 
which assembles such various persons ; and their internal 
unity in the study of human life, as shown by representa- 
tives from all classes of society. The plot or story is as 
follows : Thirty pilgrims, whose destination is the tomb 
of Thomas a Becket, at Canterbury, assemble at the 
Tabard Inn, London. They agree to make the journey 
together, and to occupy the time by telling tales in turn, 
each pilgrim to contribute a story on the way to Canter- 
bury, and another on the way back to London. But 
twenty-four stories are given, and these occupy seventeen 
thousand lines. From the prologue, or introduction, we 
at once gain a clear insight into the nature of the poem, 
as well as the means for judging Chaucer's characteristics 



FIRST ERA: FROM CHAUCER TO SPENSER. 19 

and creative power. As each of the pilgrims is made to 
tell a story characteristic of his rank, these various stories 
find their unity, as has been before suggested, in the view 
which they present of English life in its entirety. The 
titles of the pilgrims are, the Knight, Squire, Yeoman, 
Franklin, Ploughman, Miller, Reeve, Prioress, Nun, Monk, 
Friar, Sompnour, Pardoner, Poor Parson, Clerk, Sergeant- 
at-Law, Doctor of Physic, Merchant, Wife of Bath, Haber- 
dasher, Carpenter, Weaver, Dyer, Tapestry-Maker, Cook, 
Shipman, Manciple, Poet, Host of the Tabard. Like Shakes- 
peare and other of our greatest authors, Chaucer preferred 
the use of the treasures of the world, to the eccentricity of 
inventing that which had already been embodied in fit forms. 
Hence the stories themselves were taken from the stories 
already known in the world, in so far as these could be 
adapted to the needs of the poem. Boccaccio's " Decam- 
eron," " Ovid's Poems," the " Gesta Romanorum," together 
with the stories in French, furnished a majority of the 
plots. 

It was said of a Roman emperor that he " found Rome 
brick, and left it marble ; " so the touch of genius vivifies 
and beautifies the material gathered by others. 

Sufficient for our purpose has now been said about 
Chaucer as a person, and the history of his literary career, 
and we shall attempt to suggest such criticism as may 
stimulate the reader to a personal acquaintance with the 
second in rank among English poets, and to place in his 
possession such means of judgment as may direct his 
efforts. 

Rhetorical criticism is possible only to those who 
will familiarize themselves with the forms of antique 
English ; but it may be said that the most competent au- 



20 ENGLISH AND AMERICAN LITERATURE. 

thorities vindicate Chaucer's claim to the title of a great 
master. 

The minor poems, especially the "Legend of Good 
Women," offer relatively few difficulties, arising from the 
obsoleteness of the language, or from archaism. 1 The 
purity and propriety of words are attested by their present 
survival; success in versification by the fact that almost 
all forms now used in versification are to be found in 
Chaucer. Separate excellences may be looked for in the 
direction of imagery, versatility, vigor of expression, sen- 
timent, wit, humor, sententious utterance, keen observa- 
tion of men, and in beautiful descriptions of the charms of 
scenery and of animal life. When criticised with reference 
to art-form, none of Chaucer's poems fail in that unity or 
oneness which is the essential condition of art. The reader 
who follows a poem, asking himself how each portion aids 
in the formation of the whole picture, will speedily see 
Chaucer's excellence as an artist, and will be better qual- 
ified to judge the work of other poets. Having satisfied 
ourselves, either by examination or by testimony, that 
Chaucer is a master, whether regarded from the point of 
view of the rhetorician or of the artist, it remains to ask 
the question of the philosopher. Granting the art or skill 
of the work, for what is it valuable ? what is its relation to 
the other interests of the reader? "The Canterbury Tales," 
like the mature efforts of all the greatest poets, deal with 
the problem of human life — the most permanent and the 
most universal of human interests. Chaucer presents his 
accumulated stores of wisdom through manners, customs, 
and external features ; but as he represents people through 
the traits that are permanent, his poem will reach all such 
1 An antiquated term, expression, phrase, or idiom. 



FIEST ERA: FROM CHAUCER TO SPENSER. 21 

interests as are connected with the study of character, and 
the life of humanity. 

To find Chaucer's rank among the great writers of the 
world, one must disregard such faults as were inseparable 
from the age in which Chaucer lived, or, rather, we must 
judge them by comparison with the work of the poets of 
his own time ; we must estimate his excellences by com- 
paring them with the best work of men of all times. If 
we institute such a comparison, we shall find that next 
after Shakespeare comes Chaucer; if we regard worldly 
wisdom, wit, humor, purity of sentiment, manliness, respect 
for humanity, or poetic completeness, Chaucer's is the sec- 
ond place in English Literature. In the history of litera- 
ture, he will hold the first rank ; partly because of priority 
in time, partly because of the difficulties to be overcome, 
and partly because of the extent and magnitude of his lit- 
erary services. Lowell has well said that Chaucer " found 
his native tongue a dialect, and left it a language." 
" There was wanted," as Whipple well remarks, " some one 
not only endowed with poetic genius, and an intellect cul- 
tivated with the best scholarship of the age, but also, in 
addition to the love of books, familiarity with the human 
heart, gained by intercourse with men in the arena of 
actual life." 

REFERENCES FOR THE STUDENT. 

Arnold : English Literature. 

Bascorn : Philosophy of English Literature. 

Blackwood's Magazine, Vols. 2 and 57. 

Blaisdell : Outline Study of English Classics. 

Browne : Chaucer's England. 

Campbell : British Poets. 



22 English And American literature. 

Clarke : Riches of Chaucer ; Tales from Chaucer. 
Cleveland: English Literature. 
Coleridge: Works. 

Corson : The Legend of Good Women. 
Craik : English Literature. 
DTsraeli : Amenities of Literature. 
Edinburgh Review, 1815. 

Ellis : Early English Pronunciation ; English Metrical Romances 
Fleajr : Guide to Chaucer and Spenser. 
Eraser's Magazine, 1856. 
Furnivall : Chaucer Society Publications. 
Gilman : Life and Works of Chaucer. 
Godwin : Life of Chaucer. 
Hallum : Literature of Europe. 

Haweis : Chaucer for Children ; Chaucer for Schools. 
Hazlitt: Lectures on the English Poets. 
Hippisley : Early English Literature. 
Lanier : Science of English Verse. 
Lewis : The Canterbury Tales. 
Lowell : My Study Windows. 
LittelPs Living Age, November 18, 1871. 
Lounsbury : The Parliament of Fowls. 

Marsh : English Language ; English Language and Literature. 
Masson, Rose A. : Three Centuries of English Poetry. 
Mills : Literature and Literary Men of Great Britain. 
Morgan : The Western, 1873. 
Morley : English Men of Letters Series. 
Morris : Edition. 
Nicolas : Life of Chaucer. 
Phillips : English Literature. 
Retrospective Review, Vols. 9 and 14. 
Scott : Edinburgh Revieiv, 1804. 
Scherr : History of English Literature. 

Shaw : Dress and Decorations of the Middle Ages ; Encyclopaedia 
of Ornament. 

Taine : English Literature. 

Todd : Illustrations of Chaucer and Gower. 

Tyrwhitt: Chaucer's Versification and Language. 



FIRST ERA: FROM CHAUCER TO SPENSER. 23 

Ward : English Poets. 

Warton : History of English Poetry. 

Wright : Edition. 

TOPICAL RESUME, 

(CHAPTEKS I. AND II.) 

Literature : define and illustrate. 

Explain Literature as a study : its aims and methods. 

Describe the office and various forms of criticism, and illustrate its 
office for the student. 

The First Era : dates and authors marking its limits. 

Give an account of the language and literary influences. 

Events personal and literary in the career of Chaucer. 

Time and services of Gower, Heywood, Sackville, Surrey, Udall, — 
poets; Caxton, Mandeville, More, Wycliffe, — writers of prose. 



CHAPTER III. 

GENERAL VIEW OF THE SECOND ERA. (1579-1634.) 

The era now to be considered is generally known as 
the Elizabethan Period, although its glories illuminated 
the reign of James I. 

The age of Spenser, Shakespeare, and Bacon is pre- 
eminent in respect (1) to the quality and number of 
writers distinguished by creative power ; (2) to the mani- 
fold directions of effort, the comprehensiveness of writers, 
and the sense of humanity which characterizes the brother- 
hood of authors. 

The first quarter of the sixteenth century, like the 
whole of the fifteenth century, is noticeable only for the 
slowly working forces which were to result in the grand 
outburst which distinguishes the period under consideration. 
Chivalry had passed away, but its spirit was not yet extinct : 
it manifested itself in the character of Sir Philip Sidney, 
in the expeditions of Sir Walter Raleigh, in the project of 
the Spanish Armada, as well as in the means relied upon 
for its overthrow. Glory abroad and prosperity at home 
led to the greatest freedom for action, and an increased elas- 
ticity of thought; men's minds became prepared for un- 
wonted and marvellous achievements, and these thus 
became possible. Ancient literature had become known 
at least through translations ; continental intercommunica- 
tion began to diffuse the results of intellectual effort, and 

24 



SECOND ERA: FROM SPENSER TO MILTON. 25 

to disseminate a knowledge of the history and customs of 
other countries, while the discoveries belonging to the 
earlier part of the century aided in inflaming the imagina- 
tions of men. 

The gradual change which Elizabeth wrought in the 
church prevented that interference from religious dissen- 
sions which was so pernicious to literature in the period 
which is covered by our next era. 

The poet, it has been said, " stood upon a frontier ground, 
which reflected the past while it pointed to the future in 
availing itself of a glorious present." Whipple says : 
"The first and most marked characteristic of this era is 
that it is so intensely human : human nature [is shown] 
in all the forms of character in which it stands expression. 
Next is its breadth and preponderance of thought: the 
times required minds vigorous in their grasp of principles, 
exact in their scrutiny of facts. The Elizabethan thinkers 
instinctively recognized the truth that real thinking implies 
the action of the whole nature, and not that of a single, 
isolated faculty : they not only reasoned, but had reason ; 
they looked at things, and around things, and into things, 
and through things. Those who performed actions which 
poetry celebrates were as numerous as the poets : it was 
recognized that literary ability was but one phase of general 
ability." Authorship was encouraged by the countenance 
of the court, by the patronage of those possessed of wealth 
and social distinction, and the rewards for literary effort 
were such as to satisfy all who attained success. The 
changes which the language had been undergoing were 
now completed, and it remained only to use the resources 
which long-continued effort had prepared. Grammatical 
and rhetorical forms, as well as the phraseology, were 



26 ENGLISH AND AMERICAN LITERATURE. 

settled, except in so far as a living speech may from time 
to time adapt itself to new necessities. Although the 
language of this period is, to some extent, old-fashioned, 
we read it without any other occasion for suspecting that 
it is not the language of to-day. In our preliminary chap- 
ter we found that English was composed on Anglo-Saxon 
as a web, with Norman French shot through it as a woof. 
To a trifling extent the influence of Latin was felt during 
the military occupation of Great Britain by the Romans ; 
the words street (stratum*), camp (castrum), and coin, as in 
Lincoln, (colonia) may represent, if they do not exhaust, 
our obligations to this time. During the Anglo-Saxon 
period (449-1066), the church exercised a large influence, 
and some words, mostly ecclesiastical, were introduced 
from the Latin ; to this time belong such words as bishop, 
candle, and monk. To the thirteenth century we owe, 
through its interest in classical studies, a large infusion of 
Latin words i while with the revival of classical learning, 
in the period under consideration in this chapter, came an 
extravagant fondness for the Latin vocabulary. 

HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH DRAMA. 

The Drama is the literary form best adapted to action. 
In the drama the attempt is made to exhibit human 
beings in action, and to preserve the position of simple 
recorders so faithfully that each character shall seem to be, 
not merely the conception of the author, but an actual 
human being, acting freely under the given conditions. 
The formal distinctions of acts and scenes are arbitrary, 
and hence vary among different peoples. 

Historically, the drama is a growth; and beginning 



SECOND ERA: FROM SPENSER TO MILTON. 27 

among most peoples in religious ceremonies instituted for 
the direct end of instruction, it subsequently becomes 
secularized, but always portrays human life in some of 
its many forms. 

The Miracle Plays (frequently called Passion Plays, 
because the Crucifixion is so often the theme), or Myste- 
ries, began early in the Middle Ages, and continued in 
favor until the thirteenth century. These were conducted 
by the clergy ; they had for their aim the religious instruc- 
tion of the people, to whom the Bible was a sealed book, 
and to whom the Latin of the church service was too 
frequently an unmeaning jargon. Their subjects were 
scenes from the Bible, such as the Crucifixion. Gradually, 
the representations occupied themselves with the miracles 
of God's power; and when, ultimately, the clergy gave 
way to the laity in the conduct of these plays, the Myste- 
ries began to lose their originally religious character, and 
to prepare the way for the change to the Moralities. The 
Moralities, or Moral Plays, differed from the Mysteries by 
their substitution of qualities for biblical characters ; these 
plays became common in England during the reign of 
Henry the Sixth, and did not disappear until the time 
of Henry the Eighth. Next in order of time came the 
Interludes, a species of play not dissimilar to our modern 
farces. To these must be added Masques and Pageants, 
fantastic compositions consisting of song and dialogue and 
dance, composed for special occasions, and allowing the 
freest play of the author's creative impulse. The play of 
Udall (1551) was the beginning of what we now recognize 
as Comedy; and the tragedies of Shakespeare's prede- 
cessors mark the steps to completed tragedy, as shown in 
the works of our greatest dramatist. 



28 ENGLISH AND AMERICAN LITERATURE. 

SECOND ERA, FROM SPENSER TO MILTON. (1579-1634.) 

The historical authors of this era and the services 
which they rendered are as follows: Robert Southwell 
(1593), founder of the modern religious poem; George 
Chapman (1595), great as poet, dramatist, and translator 
of Homer ; James Shirley (1629), the last of a great race 
of dramatists; Sir Philip Sidney (1590), the patron of 
learning and the author of our first literary criticism; 
John Donne (1610), the first of the " Concetti," or poets 
who relied for success upon their recondite allusions ; John 
Ford (1597), a leading dramatist, whose name is associated 
with the literary effort of the Elizabethan time ; Bishop 
Joseph Hall (1612), the writer of our earliest reflective 
essay ; Thomas Hobbes (1628), the earliest English meta- 
physician ; Richard Hooker (1594), who gave us our 
earliest figurative prose, and whose profound work, " The 
Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity," is still read and admired, 
even by those who are not theologians ; George Herbert 
(1631), one of the most successful writers of religious 
lyrics ; John Webster (1612), " a master poet in the sug- 
gestion of tragic horror"; Thomas Fuller (1631), the 
quaint divine; and Abraham Cowley (1635), with his 
metaphysical conceits. 

Edmund Spenser. 

Edmund Spenser was born in London, in 1552 or 1553, 

and died in the same city, in 1598 or 1599. Of his family 
and early life we have but scanty knowledge, although it 
would appear that his parents were in straitened circum- 
stances, but of good social position. When sixteen or 
seventeen years of age, Spenser entered Pembroke Hall, 



SECOND ERA: FROM SPENSER, TO MILTON. 29 

Cambridge, as a sizar 1 and received his degree of B. A., in 
1573, and of M. A., in 1576. His college friend, Harvey, 
was the means of Spenser's forming the acquaintance of 
Sir Philip Sidney ; later, Sir Walter Raleigh became a 
friend of Spenser, and it is to the influence of Sidney and 
Raleigh that Spenser owed his material prosperity, and 
was stimulated to produce the one great poem upon which 
his literary fame now rests. Through the influence of 
Sidney, Spenser received from the crown a grant of 3029 
acres in the County of Cork, Ireland, and it was while 
living upon this estate that he accomplished his literary 
labors. In 1596 occurred the rebellion of the Earl of 
Tyrone, and Spenser seems to have been driven . from the 
country, and to have passed the last few years of his life 
in London. Spenser's personal biography is hardly neces- 
sary for an understanding of his literary work, and we may 
therefore omit any estimate of his personal character. 
Spenser has left us sixteen poems and one prose work. Of 
the former we need mention but five, " The Shepherd's 
Calendar," first published (1579), "The Epithalamium," 
"The Prothalamium," "Mother Hubbard's Tale," and 
"The Fairy Queen," as the poems by which Spenser is 
now known ; the prose work is entitled, " A View of the 
State of Ireland." 

The Shepherd's Calendar is a poetical almanac, having 
a poem assigned to each month in the year ; the form of 
these poems is pastoral, but their substance is metaphysical 
and theological; their merit is not great, and they will 
require no farther notice. Mother Hubbard's Tale is a 
vigorous, spirited fable, a satire upon the usual means of 
rising in " church and state." The Epithalamium, (hymn 
1 Sizar, a charity student. 



30 ENGLISH AND AMERICAN LITERATURE. 

in celebration of his marriage), is pronounced by an 
authoritative critic, to have no equal in either ancient or 
modern times. 

The Fairy Queen was to consist of twelve books, each 
celebrating the adventures of a knight representing one 
of the cardinal virtues, and the twelve taken together were 
to "fashion a gentleman or noble person in virtuous or 
gentle discipline." Six of the twelve virtues and their 
representatives were as follows : " Holiness, or the Red 
Cross Knight ; " Temperance, or Sir Guy on ; " " Chastity, 
or Britomart; " "Friendship, or Cambel and Triamond;" 
" Justice, or Sir Artegal ; " " Courtesy, or Sir Calidore." 
The other six cantos were, in all probability, never written. 

The manner of treatment in the " Fairy Queen " was 
suggested by the Italian poets, who during Spenser's life 
formed the controlling influence in English literature. 
Chivalry as an institution had passed away, but its spirit 
still prevailed, and its literature furnished the entertain- 
ment of cultivated people. Spenser, thus educated by the 
poetry of chivalry, living in a time of chivalric nobles, and 
having his imagination inflamed by the gorgeous sunset of 
mediaeval history, constructed his poem as an allegory of 
chivalrous adventures whose explanation was to be sought 
in the world of morals. As a poem, the " Fairy Queen " 
is to be criticised with reference to its rhetorical excellence, 
its value as a work of art, and, finally, with reference to its 
rank among the various works of art. Rhetorically, 
Spenser excels in the music of his verse, in the beauty of 
his images, and in his complete command of language ; a 
fault is his preference for archaic 1 forms. 

As an artist, Spenser's success lies in the felicity of 
separate elements, while he fails to present through his 
1 Antiquated. 



SECOND ERA: FROM SPENSER TO MILTON. 31 

poem a single image ; or, as the critics would say, he lacks 
unity. To determine the rank of the " Eairy Queen," one 
must understand that Spenser sought to represent heroism 
and ideal purity, and that there may be collected from the 
poem many maxims relating to the conduct of life ; at the 
same time, those who love Spenser found their admiration 
upon the gorgeousness of Ms landscapes, the strength of 
his descriptions of objects, repulsive or terrible, and his 
wide command of the resources of language and versifica- 
tion. In the particulars just mentioned, Spenser has never 
been excelled, and may therefore still be considered as 
" the most poetical of poets," and one of the four recog- 
nized masters of English poetry. Among those who show 
the effects of a study of Spenser, may be named Milton, 
Dryden, Pope,. Thomson, Gray, Goldsmith, Shenstone, 
Beattie, Byron, Scott, Campbell, Shelley, Keats, Coleridge, 
Southey, Wordsworth, and Tennyson. Having thus called 
attention to Spenser's excellences and defects, we shall 
quote from his most enthusiastic critic, in order that 
Spenser may be brought nearer to those who have yet to 
form an acquaintance with him. 

" There ought to be a new edition of Spenser, the most 
delightful of all poets. But who is worthy to usher in the 
apparition ? Long has he been apart from our noisy world, 
in his own fairyland, ' making a sunshine in a shady place.' 
The vision is seen by many gifted eyes, and dear is the 
divine bard to all the sons of Muses. Some of the highest 
have had their inspiration purified by his, some only a 
little lower than the angels have by it had their spirits first 
kindled into song; and from that exhaustless urn have 
many drawn light, who else had never woke the lyre, and 
by a fine feeling of the beauty it shed rather than by genius 



32 ENGLISH AND AMERICAN LITERATURE. 

of their own, have won themselves a name in that poetry 
which though not original, is still something above common 
prose, and shine with a borrowed but vivid lustre. But of 
the readers, — nay, the students of poetry — how few of 
all that multitude are familiar either with Spenser's other 
poems or with the 'Fairy Queen.' . . . His delight and 
the creative power of his delight was among the moonlight 
umbrage of woods and forests, where among the shadows 
of the old arms of trees, he saw or seemed to see, shadows 
as of stately men, while the flowers grew into beautiful 
women around his path, and all was fairyland. . . . No 
poet that ever lived had a more exquisite sense of the 
beautiful than Spenser ; of prof ounder passion many poets 
have been blessed or cursed with the power. His were 
4 thoughts that breathe,' but not ' words that burn.' His 
words have an ambient light. Reading him is like gaz- 
ing on the starry skies, or the skies without a star, except, 
perhaps one — the evening star — and all the rest of 
heaven in still possession of the moon." Spenser is supe- 
rior to Ins subject, comprehends it fully, frames it with a 
view to its end, in order to impress upon it the proper 
mark of his soul and his genius. Each story is modulated 
with respect to another, and all with respect to a certain 
effect which is being worked out. Thus a beauty issues 
from this harmony, — the beauty in the poet's heart, — 
which his whole work strives to express ; a noble and yet 
a cheerful beauty, English in sentiment, Italian in exter- 
nals, chivalric in subject, modern in its perfection, repre- 
senting a unique and wonderful epoch, the appearance of 
paganism in a Christian race, and the worship of form by 
an imagination of the North. 

In the fluidity of his language and verse, Spenser touched 



SECOND ERA: FROM SPENSER TO MILTON. ob 

the limits of human attainment. The fertility of his fancy 
has never been excelled. His mnsical organization made 
his poetry like an iEolian harp, which requires but a breath 
to stir its strings ; his images are generally perfect ; his 
poetry (as well as his own life) is cleanly and pure : in fine, 
Spenser is still the model of those who have a poetical 
temperament or poetical skill. All this furnishes but "the 
bricks and mortar " of a poem ; Spenser's genius adds the 
spirit which gives form and value to these materials. 

REFERENCES FOR THE STUDENT. 

Aikin : Life of Spenser. 

Arnold : English Literature. 

Child: Edition. 

Collier : Life of Spenser. 

Craik : Spenser and the Fairy Queen. 

DTsraeli : Amenities of Literature. 

Drake : Literary Hours : Shakespeare and his Times. 

Fleay : Guide to Chaucer and Spenser. 

Grosart: Fuller's Worthies. 

Hallam : Literature of Europe. 

Hart : Spenser and the Fairy Queen. 

Lowell : Among; my Books. 

Marsh : English Language. 

Masson, Rose A. : Three Centuries of English Poetry. 

Minto : English Poets. 

Morgan: The Western, 1871. 

Morley : Men of Letters Series. 

Phillips : English Literature. 

Prescott : Miscellanies. 

Saintsbury : Elizabethan Literature. 

Schlegel : History of Literature. 

Todcl : Life of Spenser 

Ward : -English Poets. 

Warton, J. : Observations on the Fairy Queen. 

T. : History of English Poetry. 
Whipple : The Age of Elizabeth. 



34 ENGLISH AND AMERICAN LITERATURE. 



Bacon. 

Francis Bacon (Baron Verulam, Viscount St. Albans; 
born in 1560, died 1626,) was the son of Sir Nicholas 
Bacon, Lord Keeper of the Great Seal in the reign of Queen 
Elizabeth. As a child, Lord Bacon was noticeable for 
quickness of thought, together with great precision and 
force of language. At the age of thirteen he entered the 
University of Cambridge, having previously enjoyed all 
the opportunities accessible to one brought up in a family 
of high culture and excellent social position. Lord Bacon 
remained at the University for three years and a half, and 
even at this early age manifested a great repugnance to 
the usual course of study. Upon leaving the University 
he was sent to France, as part of the household of the 
English ambassador ; and while there he contracted habits 
of ostentatious living, and wrote notes on the state of 
Europe. Recalled to England in 1580, by the death of his 
father, Lord Bacon was compelled to seek a profession, 
and studied law. He acquired the friendship of Lord 
Essex, from whom he received substantial favors, and 
entered Parliament in 1593. From this point Lord Bacon's 
political ascent was rapid. Lie was knighted in 1603 ; 
made King's Counsel in 1604 ; member of the Privy Coun- 
cil in 1616 ; keeper of the Great Seal in 1617 ; Lord High 
Chancellor in 1618; Baron Verulam in 1619; and Vis- 
count St. Albans in 1619. 

In 1621, Lord Bacon was convicted, upon his own con- 
fession, of receiving bribes, "was fined forty thousand 
pounds, ordered to be imprisoned during the King's pleas- 
ure, and incapacitated to hold any office, to sit in Par- 
liament, or to come within verge of the Court." 



SECOND ERA : FROM SPENSER TO MILTON. 35 

Bacon's fame rests upon his "Instauratio Magna ; " but he 
also published " Elements of the Laws of England," " His- 
tory of King Henry VII.," and " Essays, Civil and Moral." 
It is in virtue of this last work that he finds his place in 
English literature, since the others do not belong so much 
to literature as to science. In his "Essays," Bacon sets 
down occasional thoughts rather than attempts a complete 
consideration of the topics selected ; and his wisdom was 
so great that these essays are loaded with thought, and 
have proved a mine of wealth to many who have fully 
wrought out the hints there found. 

An account of the "Instauratio Magna" is proper, 
because, while it belongs to the department of Physics, and 
not to Belles Lettres, it is the most mature effort of one of 
England's greatest minds, and a general acquaintance with 
it should be a part of every one's education. 

Bacon defines the scope of the " Instauratio Magna," by 
saying that it is " The science of a better and more perfect 
use of reason in the investigation of things, and of the true 
aids to the understanding." The work is divided into 
parts, as follows : 

1. De Augmentis Scientiarum, or The Advancement of 
Learning. This was an attempt to fix the limits of human 
knowledge by a summation of what had been accomplished, 
and of Avhat yet remained to be done. The work was left 
incomplete, but it subsequently took shape in the hands of 
the Encyclopedists, 1 and later in the modern cyclopaedia. 

2. The Novum Organum, or the New Logic. It is 
upon this book that Bacon exhausted his strength, as his 
great interest was in methods rather than in results. Pre- 

1 A number of learned Frenchmen, who united in preparing a cyclo- 
paedia of human knowledge. 



36 ENGLISH AND AMERICAN LITERATURE. 

viously to Bacon, Physical Science in England may be said 
to have had no existence, as the philosophers were inter- 
ested first, in the phenomena of mind, and later, in the sub- 
tleties of formal logic. Bacon was well qualified to give 
voice to the claims of what is now known as the Inductive 
Method, while from his social position and known attain- 
ments he could command an audience. In all processes of 
reasoning there are two ways open to us : we may observe 
phenomena, and thence infer the law which governs them ; 
or we may start with an hypothesis, and then examine the 
phenomena to see whether they verify it. The former is 
called the Inductive Method, and is the one used in physi- 
cal science ; the other is called the Deductive Method, and 
is the one used in the investigations of mental and moral 
science. Lord Bacon gave currency to. the method which 
has led to the great discoveries of modern science, and 
stated the principles of modern material science, so that he 
must ever retain his place as the leading English physicist. 
Bacon's special scheme of inductive reasoning failed in his 
own hands, and has been employed by none of his success- 
ors ; his experiments were unsuccessful, although many of 
them have yielded satisfactory results in more skilful hands. 

3. Bylva Sylvarum: Natural Philosophy and Natural 
History. This book, intended as the application of his 
method, Lord Bacon did not finish, treating only of the 
history of the winds, of life and death, of density and 
rarity, and of sound and hearing. 

4. Scala Xntellectus : " Types and models which place 
before our eyes the entire progress of the mind in the 
discovery of truth." This was barely begun. 

5. Prodromoi sive Anticipationes Philosophiae Se- 
cun&es: a specimen of the new philosophy. This was 
left incomplete. 



SECOND ERA : FROM SPENSER TO MILTON. 37 

6. Philosophia Secunda: a perfect system of philoso- 
phy, confirmed by a legitimate, sober, and exact inquiry, 
according to the method which Bacon had invented and 
laid down. " To perfect this last part," says Lord Bacon, 
" is beyond our powers and beyond our hopes ; we may, as 
we trust, make no despicable beginnings ; the destinies of 
the human race must complete it." 

As a philosopher, Bacon sought as the ends of his labors, 
utility and progress in the material world, and even young 
students will do well to acquaint themselves with his scien- 
tific works. His essays can be examined only with reference 
to excellence of language and weightiness of thought, for 
prose style had not in his time been formed. The books 
named below will supply a clear idea of Bacon's life. 

REFERENCES FOR THE STUDENT. 

Bascoxn : Philosophy of English Literature. 

Campbell, J : Lord High Chancellors. 

Craik : Bacon and his Philosophy. 

Dixon : Personal History of Lord Bacon. 

Fischer : Bacon of Verulam. 

Hall am ; Literature of Europe. 

Hazlitt: Lectures. 

Lippincott's Biographical Dictionary. 

Macaulay: Essays. 

Mallet : Life of Bacon. 

Marsh : English Language ; English Language and Literature. 

Montague : Life of Bacon. 

Phillips : English Literature. 

Rawley : Life of Lord Bacon. 

Retrospective Review, Vols 3, 4, 6. 

Saintsbury : English Prose Style ; Elizabethan Literature. 

Scherr : History of English Literature. 

Schlegel : History of Literature. 

Taine : English Literature. 

Whipple : The Age of Elizabeth. 



38 ENGLISH AND AMERICAN LITERATURE. 



Shakespeare. 

William Shakespeare was born at Stratford-on-the- 
Avon in 1564, and died at the age of fifty-two, in the 
enjoyment of every element of success. The appreciation 
of Shakespeare's works is not at all dependent upon a 
knowledge of his personal biography ; of no writer is the 
statement so true, unless that writer be Homer. Still, as 
Shakespeare's is the most widely known name in all litera- 
ture, and as he doubtless deserves the rank assigned him 
by his most enthusiastic admirers, we all naturally wish to 
know all that can be told of one who fills so large a place 
in the world's history. For a variety of reasons the 
personal life of most of the dramatists of the time of 
Elizabeth and James I. is but little known. In the first 
place, public records were more carelessly kept ; secondly, 
biographies were uncommon, and the world had not learned 
to value the books now put forth from the press under the 
name of " Memoirs," " Recollections," "Anecdotes," " Stud- 
ies," and " Autobiographies ; " in the third place, authors 
were not taught to expect an immortality of fame, but 
would be likely to echo the sentiment of Chaucer : 

But alle shall passe that men prose or ryhme, 
Take every man hys tame as for hys tyme. 

Still further, the absence of a copyright law, to a great 
extent precluded the sense of property in ideas, and 
hence narrowed the bounds, while it did not decrease the 
intensity of the desire, for fame. We are then to under- 
stand that of the many incidents insisted upon by the many 
biographers of Shakespeare, only such are here presented 



SECOND ERA: FROM SPENSER TO MILTON. 39 

as are accepted by the best Shakespearian scholars, and 
which are supported by sufficient evidence. 

William Shakespeare's father was a prominent and active 
citizen, whose fortune was lost before his son grew to 
manhood. From the public positions held by the father, 
it is reasonable to suppose that he gave Iris son such 
educational advantages as were accessible in his time and 
place. It is certain that these opportunities were no 
greater than the facilities furnished by the best schools of 
an ordinary nourishing English town ; from Shakespeare's 
character as shown in manhood, from his early ability as 
an author, and from an examination of his poems, it is 
reasonable to conclude that his work as a pupil was exact 
and thorough, even if it were irregular. By his twenty- 
second year we find Shakespeare in London connected as 
an actor with the Blackfriars Theatre ; he probably sought 
employment at the theatre because theatrical representa- 
tions were not uncommon at Stratford, and because some 
of the Stratford people had made their success in London 
through acting. We have no trustworthy account of 
Shakespeare's theatrical life from the time that it began 
until he had become a writer of plays and a large owner in 
the theatre : it is however eminently probable that at first 
he did a boy's work, and that he rose gradually by industry, 
economy, and a judicious use of his savings until by 1598, 
he was a writer of settled reputation, a large stockholder 
in the Blackfriars Theatre, and the friend and companion 
of the most distinguished literary men of the day. In 
1605, Shakespeare was able to retire from active life, and to 
pass his remaining years upon a place which he had pur- 
chased in his native town. There are many matters relat- 
ing to Shakespeare still in controversy, and it will therefore 



40 ENGLISH AND AMERICAN LITERATURE. 

be desirable to give the most authoritative conclusions in 
regard to the difficulties with which young students are 
likely to be perplexed. 

I. Correct Spelling of Shakespeare's Name. — Be- 
cause Orthography was still unsettled, we find in the case 
of Shakespeare as well as in that of Raleigh, Jonson, Mar- 
lowe, and many others, that there is a difference among 
the authorized spellings of his name. Of the thirty-seven 
ways in which it has been spelled, scholars prefer " Shake- 
speare " or " Shakspere." 

II. Authenticity of Plays.- — The reasons for differ- 
ing opinions upon this topic will be presented in con- 
nection with the list of Shakespeare's works ; it may be 
added that the plays included in any reputable edition 
may represent the conclusions of at least one respectable 
scholar. 

III. Order in which the Plays were written — The 
chronology will vary with the tests- applied, and hence we 
have at least eight recognized arrangements of the plays. 
Any of these will enable the student to compare the earlier 
and the later work of our poet, and to see that Shake- 
speare, like all other people, improved with practice. 

The chronology of the plays here offered has been kindly 
prepared by D. J. Snider, who is beginning to be recog- 
nized as one of the ablest of our Shakespearian critics. Any 
student interested in the diverse opinions in regard to sep- 
arate plays can consult Halliwell, Stevens, Malone, Drake, 
Chalmers, Collier, and Delius. 

Fist Period of Shakespeare's literary effort, when he 
was a youthful dramatist, an imitator, and an adapter: 
Titus Andronicus, Pericles, Henry VI. (Parts 1, 2, and 3), 
Comedy of Errors, Taming of the Shrew. 



SECOND ERA: FROM SPENSER TO MILTON. 41 

Second Period: Shakespeare in possession of himself. 
1. Erotic Plays : Two Gentlemen of Verona, Love's Labor's 
Lost, AlVs Well that ends Well, Midsummer Night's Dream, 
Romeo and Juliet, Merchant of Venice. 2. Historical 
Plays : Richard II., Richard III, Henry IV. (Parts 1 and 
2), Henry V., King John. 3. Comedies : Merry Wives of 
Windsor, As You Like It, Much Ado about Nothing, 
Twelfth Night. 

Third Period : Shakespeare's assured mastery now leads 
him to consider his office as that of poet rather than 
playwright. Measure for Measure, Othello, Hamlet, Mac- 
beth, King Lear, Cymbeline, Troilus and Cressida, Jidius 
Caesar, Antony and Cleopatra, Coriolanus, Timon of Athens, 
The Tempest, Henry VIII. 

The uncertainty of authorship is, to a large extent, ex- 
plained by the following considerations : (1) The habit of 
joint work common among dramatists ; (2) the absence 
of any law of copyright; (3) the constant remodelling 
of plays to suit temporary wants of actors ; (4) the care- 
lessness of dramatic writers, who were led by circumstances 
to regard their work as likely to perish, after it had accom- 
plished its immediate objects ; (5) the difference of tests 
applied by the various methods of investigators. To pre- 
vent confusion, it should be said that questions of authen- 
ticity are raised with reference to the other dramatists of 
the Elizabethan era. 

IV. Classification of dramatic effort. — Much confu- 
sion arises in classifying, from unconsciously changing the 
basis of classification. The most common arrangement of 
Shakespeare's plays is into tragedies, comedies, and histo- 
ries. The defect of this classification is twofold : in the 
first place, it does not provide for such plays as " The Mer- 



42 ENGLISH AND AMERICAN LITERATURE. 

chant of Venice"; and in the second place, the historical 
plays are tragedies, whose plot is drawn from political his- 
tory. Without disturbing a classification whose antiquity 
and commonness render it venerable, it will be proper to 
offer another which is more logical and, to some, more 
convenient ; 

The Drama: 1. Tragedy, historical; 2. Comedy, non- 
historical; 3. Unclassified. 

The Drama, as a literary form, requires such presenta- 
tion as is suited to acting. Under the unclassified drama 
are included, mysteries, moralities, interludes, masques, 
tableaux, operas, melodramas, farces, and other forms that 
have no special names. The tragedy, as a special form, 
requires the conflict of principles, all of which are true ; 
the failure to reconcile these conflicts leads to the destruc- 
tion of the persons through whom these principles find 
dramatic representation. 

The comedy requires the conflict of externalities; and 
the issue is the destruction, not of the individuals, but of 
their follies. Such a drama as the " Merchant of Venice " 
is tragic in so far as concerns Shylock, and comic in so far 
as relates to Antonio and his friends. 

V. Editions. — The Cambridge Shakespeare, Handy 
Volume Edition (English), H. N. Hudson's School Edi- 
tion, Harvard Edition, W. J. Rolfe's School Edition, 
Richard Grant White Edition. 

The plays of Shakespeare were first published collectively 
by Heminge and Condell, actors at the Globe Theatre. 
This edition was published seven years after Shakespeare's 
death, and is known as the First Folio. The editors are 
supposed to have obtained the materials surreptitiously, 
and through incapacity and carelessness they offered but a 



SECOND ERA: FROM SPENSER TO MILTON. 43 

poor substitute for the poet's own manuscripts, which had 
perished like the other "property of the green room." The 
text of Shakespeare's plays is therefore corrupt, notwith- 
standing the great amount of labor that has been expended 
in the attempt to restore it. 

To judge Shakespeare from the rhetorical standpoint, 
we must use the most approved text, and confine our study 
to the large portions about whose correctness there is no 
doubt. To realize Shakespeare's mastery of the materials 
of his art, the reader must compare selected passages with 
similar work by other great poets. The many essays ac- 
cessible will be found useful in directing one's attention, 
but cannot of course replace individual investigation. 
From the standpoint of art, Shakespeare stands first, as 
will readily appear to anyone who examines his plays with 
reference to beauty and effectiveness of imagery, the crea- 
tion of poetical character, the expression of human thought 
and feeling, and, in short, with reference to his success in 
expressing adequately any thought or feeling to which he 
would give utterance. 

For the higher efforts of art criticism, the young student 
will need the assistance of those who have made the drama, 
and more especially Shakespeare's drama, a special study. 
The answer to all philosophic criticism is brief, but difficult 
to appreciate because of its simplicity; for any end that 
may be proposed for an acquaintance with literature, 
Shakespeare's plays are at once the most worthy, and the 
most satisfying means. To convert this abstract assertion 
into a personal conviction, the student must read Shakes- 
peare's plays, and get at one impression the wealth of 
sentiment, beauty, humor, passion, or whatever may seem 
to him most of interest. 



44 ENGLISH AND AMERICAN LITERATURE. 



REFERENCES FOR THE STUDENT. 

Abbott : Shakespeare Grammar. 

Allibone : Dictionary of Authors. 

Arnold, T : English Literature. 

Campbell : British Poets. 

Caiiyle : Heroes and Hero Worship. 

Clarke : Beauties of Shakespeare ; Concordance to Shakespeare ; 
Dictionary of Poetical Quotations ; Shakespeare's Characters ; Shakes- 
peare Key; Shakespeare Proverbs. 

Craik : The English of Shakespeare. 

De Quiacey : Encyclopaedia Britannica; Essays. 

Douce : Illustrations of Shakespeare. 

Dowden : Shakespeare, a Critical Study ; Shakespeare Primer. 

Drake : Memorials of Shakespeare ; Shakespeare and his Friends ; 
Shakespeare and his Times. 

Dyce : Edition. 

Ellis : Early English Pronounciation. 

Emerson : Representative Men. 

Fleay : Shakespeare Life ; Shakespeare Manual. 

Froude : History of England. 

Furness : Variorum Edition. 

Gervinus : Shakespeare Commentary. 

Goethe ; Wilhelm Meister. 

Hallam : Literature of Europe. 

Halliwell : Life of Shakespeare. 

Hazlitt, W. C. : Shakespeare Library. 

Hazlitt, W: Miscellaneous Works. 

Holmes : Authorship of Shakespeare. 

Hows : Golden Leaves from the Dramatic Poets. 

Hudson : Cambridge Edition ; Life, Art, and Character of Shakes- 
peare. School Edition. 

Hugo : Shakespeare. 

Jameson : Characteristics of Women. 

Keightley : Shakespeare Expositor. 

Lamb : Tales from Shakespeare. 

Lowell : Among my Books. 

Lowndes : Bibliographer's Manual. 



SECOND ERA: FROM SPENSER TO MILTON. 45 

Maginn : Shakespearian Papers. 

Martin : Shakespeare's Female Characters. 

Masson, Rose A. : Three Centuries of English Poetry. 

Minto : English Poetry. 

Morgan: Topical Shakespeareana : The Western, 1878. 

Neil : Life of Shakespeare. 

New Shakespeare Society Publications. 

Palgrave : Shakespeare's Songs and Sonnets. 

Phillips : English Literature. 

Rolfe : Edition. 

Saintsbury : Elizabethan Literature. 

Schlegel : History of Literature. 

Schmidt : Shakespeare Lexicon. 

Seymour : Remarks Critical, etc. 

Shakespeareana (Phila.). 

Shakespeare Society Publications. 

Simrock : Plots of Shakespeare. 

Snider: Drama of Shakespeare, Journal of Speculative Philoso- 
phy, System of Shakespeare's Dramas ; The Western, 1875, 1876, 
1877. 

Spalding : English Literature. 

Stearns : Shakespeare Treasury. 

Symonds : Shakespeare's Predecessors. 

Taine : English Literature. 

Thimm : Shakespeareana. 

Thone : Shakespeare and Chaucer Examinations. 

Thornbury ; Shakespeare's England. 

Ulrici : Shakespeare's Dramatic Art. 

Walker : Shakespeare's Text ; Shakespeare's Versification. 

Whipple's Essays and Reviews. 

White: Life and Genius of Shakespeare; Shakespeare Scholar: 
Edition. 

Wilkes : Shakespeare from an American Standpoint. 

Wordsworth, C. : Shakespeare's Knowledge and Use of the Bible. 

Wright : Clarendon Press Edition. 



46 ENGLISH AND AMERICAN LITERATURE. 



Marlowe. 

Christopher Marlowe was the son of a shoemaker, and 
was born in 1564. Of his early life nothing is known 
beyond the fact that at seventeen he entered the university 
at Cambridge, and that at twenty-three he was to be found 
in London, occupied as an actor and as a writer for the 
stage. His tragedy of " Tamburlane the Great," was very 
successful, and is pronounced by Whipple, "a strange 
compound of inspiration and desperation, with the mark 
of power equally on its absurdities and its sublimities." 

" The first play written in blank verse for the popular 
stage, its verse has an elasticity, freedom, and variety of 
movement which makes it as much the product of Marlowe's 
mind as the thoughts and passions it conveys. It had no 
precedent in the verse of preceding writers, and is con- 
structed, not on mechanical rules, but on vital principles. 
It is an effort of a glowing mind, disdaining to creep along 
paths previously made, and opening a new path for itself. 
This scornful, intellectual daring, the source of Marlowe's 
originality, is also the source of his defeats. In the 
tragedy of ' Tamburlane ' he selects for his hero a character 
through whom he can express his own extravagant impa- 
tience of physical obstacles and moral restraints. No 
regard is paid to reality, even in the dramatic sense of the 
word ; a shaggy and savage force dominates over every- 
thing. The writer seems to say, with his truculent hero, 
4 This is my mind, and I will have it so.' This self-assert- 
ing intellectual insolence is accompanied by an unwearied 
energy, which half redeems the bombast into which it runs, 
or rather rushes ; and strange gleams of the purest splen- 
dor of poetry are continually transforming the bully into 



SECOND ERA: FROM SPENSER TO MILTON. 47 

the bard." — E. P. Whipple, Literature of the Age of 
Elizabeth. 

His style is impetuous, and full of energy, but apt to 
degenerate into bombast; his versification broken and 
somewhat deficient in harmony ; his language defective in 
purity but possessed in a marked degree of all other 
excellences; his dialogue is dramatic. His images and 
ideas have all the vastness and pomp which belong to 
youth attempting much without full knowledge of its 
capabilities. Of all Shakespeare's predecessors, Marlowe 
most nearly approaches him in genius. 

The "Troublesome Reign and Lamentable Death of 
Edward the Second " is pronounced the best historical play 
before Shakespeare's, and Charles Lamb says "that the 
death scene of Marlowe's King moves pity and terror 
beyond any scene, ancient or modern, with which I am 
acquainted." " Dr. Faustus," and " The Rich Jew of 
Malta," are the names of the other great plays of Marlowe. 

REFERENCES FOR THE STUDENT. 

Campbell: British Poets. 

Collier : English Dramatic Poets. 

Drake : Shakespeare and his Times. 

Dyce : Edition. 

Flallam : Literature of Europe. 

Hazlitt : Dramatic Poets ; English Poets. 

Hows : Golden Leaves from the Dramatic Poets. 

Hunt : Imagination and Fancy. 

Lamb : English Dramatic Poets, 

Masson, Rose A. : Three Centuries of English Poetry. 

Mermaid Series of the Best plays. 

Morgan : Representative Names. 

Retrospective Review, Vols. 3 and 4. 

Saintsbury : Elizabethan Literature. 



48 ENGLISH AND AMERICAN LITERATURE. 

Spalding : English Literature. 

Symonds : Shakespeare's Predecessors. 

Ward : English Dramatic Poets. 

Warton : History of English Poetry. 

Whipple : The Age of Elizabeth ; Essays and Reviews. 

JONSON. 

Ben Jonson was born at Westminster in 1574. But 
little is known about his father, who died before the birth 
of the son. The mother married again, and her husband, 
a bricklayer, is supposed to have sent Ben to school during 
his early boyhood. Through the assistance of friends, he 
was sent first to Westminster School, and later to the Uni- 
versity of Cambridge. After a short stay at the latter 
place, want of money compelled him to return home, where 
he assisted his stepfather. Jonson soon became dissatisfied 
with his employment, and enlisted as a volunteer in the 
army in Flanders ; he returned to England richer only in 
a reputation for personal bravery. Soon after his return 
he engaged in a duel, and having killed his antagonist, he 
was thrown into prison upon the charge of murder. When 
released, Jonson occupied himself in writing plays, and in 
1597 published "Every Man in his Humour." "Vol- 
pone," " Sejanus," " Catiline," and " The Alchemist," may 
represent his dramas ; in addition to which, he composed 
many masques and interludes, besides an unfinished pas- 
toral, 1 called " The Sad Shepherd." His works number 
about fifty. 

William Gifford, Jonson's best editor, thus describes 
the excellences and defects of the plays : " There are 
causes which render his comedies less amusing than the 

1 A poem whose character and incidents are derived from shepherd 
life. 



SECOND ERA: FROM SPENSER TO MILTON. 49 

masterly skill employed upon them would seem to warrant 
our expecting. Jonson was the painter of humors, not of 
passions. It was not his object to assume a leading pas- 
sion, and so mix and qualify it with others, incidental 
to our common nature, as to produce a being instantly 
recognized as one of our kind. Generally speaking, his 
characters have but one predominating quality ; his merit 
consists in the felicity with which he combines a certain 
number of such personages, distinct from one another, into 
a well-ordered and regular plot, dexterously preserving 
the unities of time and place, and exhibiting all the proba- 
bilities which the most rigid admirer of the ancient models 
could possibly demand. Both of his tragedies are taken 
from the Roman story, and he has apparently succeeded 
in liis principal object, which was to exhibit the characters 
of the drama to the spectators of his day, precisely as they 
appeared to those of their own. The plan was scholastic, 
but it was not judicious. The difference between the 
dramatis persona? and the spectator was too wide ; and the 
very accuracy to which he aspired would seem to take 
away much of the power of pleasing. Had he drawn men 
instead of Romans, his success would have been more 
assured ; but the ideas, the language, the allusions, could 
only be readily caught by the contemporaries of Augustus 
and Tiberius ; and it redounds not a little to the author's 
praise, that he has familiarized us, in some measure, to the 
living features of an age so distant from our own." — 
William Gf-ifford. 

" I cannot consent that the palm of humor alone shall be 
given to him, while in wit, feeling, pathos, and poetical 
diction he is to be several fathoms below Fletcher and 
Massinger. In the last particular, I think that he excels 



50 ENGLISH AND AMERICAN LITERATURE. 

them both, and, indeed, all his contemporaries excepting 
Shakespeare. The strength of Jonson's style is undoubted, 
and therefore his critics have chosen to deny him the 
merits of elegance and gracefulness. The fact is, that in 
his tragedies, and the metrical parts of his comedies, his 
versification is peculiarly smooth and flowing; and the 
songs and other lyrical pieces which he has sprinkled over 
his dramas are exquisitely elegant, and elaborated to the 
highest degree of polish. c Catiline ' is a fine tragedy, full 
of passionate and animated action, but, at the same time, 
displaying eloquent dialogue, powerful description, and a 
sweet yet vigorous versification ; while the characters are 
drawn, that of ' Catiline ' especially, with Shakespearian 
force and truth. But Jonson's fame rests principally upon 
his comic powers. The great characteristic feature of his 
comic genius is humor, an ingredient which seems to be 
entirely lost sight of in the composition of modern come- 
dies, — the best and most successful of which are remark- 
able only for wit. Brilliancy of dialogue and smartness of 
repartee, excellent things as they are, are but poor substi- 
tutes for character, action, and human nature. In the 
composition of a perfect comedy must be united wit and 
humor." — Henry Neele. 

Jonson died in London at the age of sixty-three, leaving 
a reputation not since equalled. 

REFERENCES FOR THE STUDENT. 

Adams : Dictionary of English Literature. 
Baker : Biographia Dranaatiea. 
Campbell : British Poets. 
Chetwood : Life of Jonson. 
Coleridge : Literary Remains. 
Collier : English Dramatic Poetry, 



SECOND EEA: FKOM SPENSER TO MILTON. 51 

Gilford : British Dramatists ; Edition. 

Hallum: Literature of Europe. 

Hazlitt : Dramatic Poets ; English Poets. 

Hows : Golden Leaves from the Dramatic Poets. 

Lamb : English Dramatic Poets. 

Masson, Rose A. : Three Centuries of English Poetry. 

Neele : Lectures on English Poetry. 

Spalding : English Literature. 

Symonds : Shakespeare's Predecessors. 

Whipple : Essays and Reviews ; The Age of Elizabeth. 

Beaumont and Fletcher. 

The literary -work of Beaumont and Fletcher was not 
only clone in conjunction, but the work of the one is so 
inseparable from that of the other, that their biographies 
are always written together. 

Francis Beaumont (1586-1615), was a son of Francis 
Beaumont, a judge of the Court of Common Pleas, and 
his ancestry was both ancient and noble. He was educated 
at the University of Oxford, and he subsequently enrolled 
himself as a member of the Inner Temple (that is, became 
a lawyer) ; however, he found literary labor more attractive 
than the pursuit of the Law, and his short life sufficed for 
the production of works which justify the wisdom of his 
choice. 

John Fletcher (1576-1625), was the son of Richard 
Fletcher, Bishop of Bristol, Worcester, and London. He 
was educated at Cambridge, and after coining to London 
seems to have attempted no profession. The friendship 
between Fletcher and Beaumont seems to have begun very 
soon after the latter left the university, and continued 
unbroken till death. The works of Beaumont and 
Fletcher include fifty-two plays, of which eighteen have 



52 ENGLISH AND AMERICAN LITERATURE. 

been decided to belong to Fletcher alone. Campbell 
describes the contributions of each, as follows : " Beaumont 
was a deeper scholar. Fletcher is said to have been more 
a man of the world. Beaumont's view was more pathetic 
and solemn, but he was not without humor ; for the mock- 
heroic scenes, that are excellent in some of their plays, are 
universally ascribed to him. Fletcher's muse, except 
where she sleeps in pastorals, seems to have been a nymph 
of boundless, unblushing pleasantry. . . . We are told 
also that Beaumont's taste leant to the hard and abstract 
school of Jonson, while his coadjutor followed the wilder 
graces of Shakespeare. . . . On the whole, while it is 
generally allowed that Fletcher was the gayer, and Beau- 
mont the graver genius of their amazing theatre, it is 
unnecessary to depreciate either, for they were both origi- 
nal and creative, or to draw invidious comparisons between 
men who themselves disdained to be rivals." 

The plays generally regarded as the best of their literary 
work are " Philaster," " The Maid's Tragedy," " A King 
and no King," and " The Knight of the Burning Pestle." 
Hazlitt pronounces Beaumont and Fletcher to be " masters 
of style and of versification," and Sir Walter Scott praises 
them for " beautiful description, tender and passionate dia- 
logue, and brilliant wit and gayety;" perhaps the obverse 
of the medal may be fairly shown through the remark of 
Hallam, " We lay down the volume with a sense of admi- 
ration ; but little of it remains distinctly in the memory." 

REFERENCES FOR THE STUDENT. 

Campbell : British Poets. 
Collier : English Dramatic Poets. 
Hallam : Literature of Europe. 



SECOND ERA: FROM SPENSER TO MILTON. 53 

Hazlitt : The Age of Elizabeth. 

Hows : Golden Leaves from the Dramatic Poets. 

Lamb : English Dramatic Poets. 

Mermaid Series of Best Plays. 

Saintsbury : Elizabethan Literature. 

Schlegel : Dramatic Literature. 

Scott : British Drama. 

Symonds : Shakespeare's Predecessors. 

Ward : English Dramatic Literature ; English Poets. 

Whipple : The Age of Elizabeth. 

Massinger. 

Phillip Massinger was born at Salisbury in 1584, and 
died in London, 1640. Of Ms early life we know only 
that lie passed some time at the University of Oxford and 
left without taking a de'gree. Of thirty-eight plays, twenty 
were destroyed through the carelessness of a servant, who 
used them in making the kitchen fires. " The Duke of 
Milan," 1 "The Virgin Martyr," and "The Unnatural 
Combat," may serve to represent Massinger's tragedies, and 
of these we select the " Duke of Milan" because it has been 
pronounced by Hazlitt, " the most poetical of Massinger's 
productions," an opinion indorsed by Hallam, who says : 
"Among the tragedies of Massinger, I should incline to 
prefer c The Duke of Milan.' The characters of Sforza, 
Marcelia, and Francesca are in Massinger's best manner ; 
the story is skilfully and not improbably developed ; the 
pathos is deeper than we generally find in his writings ; 
the eloquence of language has never been surpassed by 
him." 

Massinger is deficient in passion and energy, but his 
language is correct, and remarkably modern ; he is generally 
1 Pronounced Mil'an. 



54: ENGLISH AND AMEKICAN LITERATURE. 

elegant and chaste in his imagery; he seems to develop 
in each play a single passion in all its necessary conse- 
quences, but is lacking in constructive skill ; his versifica- 
tion is dignified and harmonious ; he fails in his comic 
scenes, and is probably most noticeable for intellectual 
dignity and elegance. 

REFERENCES FOR THE STUDENT. 

Collier : English Dramatic Poetry. 

Gifford: Edition. 

Hallam: Literature of Europe. 

Hazlitt : Age of Elizabeth. 

Hows : Golden Leaves from the Dramatic Poets. 

Macaulay: Essa}-s . 

Mermaid Series of Best Plays. 

Saintsbury : Elizabethan Literature. 

Symonds : Shakesj^eare's Predecessors. 

Ward : English Dramatic Poets. 

Whipple : The Age of Elizabeth ; Essays and Reviews. 

TOPICAL RESUME. 
(chapter ni.) 

The Second Era — dates and authors used to mark its limits. 

Give an account of changes in the language and of the literary 
influences. 

Give dates and services of Spenser^ contemporaries and suc- 
cessors : — 

Chapman, Cowley, Donne, Ford, Herbert, Herrick, Shirley, 
Southwell, Webster, poets ; Fuller, Hall, Hooker, Howell, Sidney, 
writers of prose. 

Events personal and literary in the career of Bacon ? of Shakes- 
peare ? of Spenser ? of Jonson ? of Marlowe ? of Massinger ? 



CHAPTER IV. 

THIRD ERA: FROM MILTON TO DRYDEN. (1634-1658.) 

The creative period, which we have called the Second 
Era, was followed by a time in which civil dissensions and 
religions differences absorbed men's energies, and turned 
them away from literary pursuits, except in so far as these 
might be found available for political and religious contro- 
versy. During the latter part of the reign of James the 
First, coarseness became licentiousness, and all forms of 
literature were debased. Under Charles the First, the 
political and ecclesiastical questions became all-absorbing, 
and many, who under other circumstances would have 
added to our literary treasures in prose, spent their 
strength upon no less necessary interests, which were much 
more pressing. In poetry we receive much exquisite verse, 
but we unfortunately find much grace and power wasted 
upon themes either in themselves bad and trifling, or treated 
in such a manner that beauty of form cannot sustain our 
interest. The Commonwealth and the Protectorate bring- 
ing the Puritans into political power, naturally drove out 
all forms of literary effort, except such as might plainly be 
seen to be useful. The closing of the theatres prevented 
dramatic effort, and we can regret this the less because 
the theatre had come to regard wit and power as subser- 
vient to licentiousness. Theology received large accessions 
to the wealth of its literature, and the stern morality of the 

55 



5Q ENGLISH AND AMERICAN LITERATURE. 

Puritan leaders was to introduce an element which, if we 
except the short period of the Restoration, was never again 
to be wholly absent from our literature. During this 
period, as Latin was the language of state and of scholarly 
effort, its influence was perceptibly felt in English writing. 
There were gained grace and skill in poetic forms, and a 
general flexibility in the language of literature, so that in 
the next era we are not surprised at the formation of prose 
style. 

Jeremy Taylor (1639) was distinguished alike for his 
life and for his eloquence; and his "Ductor Dubitantium," 
" Liberty of Prophesying," and " Holy Living and Holy 
Dying," still form important parts of a theological library. 
Edmund Waller may represent the graceful, sportive effort 
of the earlier part of the period, and Sir John Denham's 
44 Cooper's Hill " (1641) may well represent descriptive 
poetry. Sir Thomas Browne (1642), through his u Religio 
Medici " and 44 Hydriotaphia, or Urn-Burial," introduced 
that Latinizing of English which Samuel Johnson was to 
perfect. Joseph Howell (1640) was the earliest writer of 
44 Familiar Letters ; " and Robert Herrick (1647) is still 
the most felicitous writer of 44 Vers de SocieteV' So far as 
regards the language, both the vocabulary and the gram- 
matical forms were now so far settled that we read the 
writers of this era without suspicion of their antiquity. 

Milton. 

John Milton was born in London in 1608, and died in 
1674, at the age of sixty-six years. His father was by oc- 
cupation a scrivener, 1 and occupied his leisure in the culti- 
1 A conveyancer. 



THIRD ERA : EROM MILTON TO DRYDEN. 57 

vation of music and poetry. He was furthermore a man 
of principle (sufficiently strong to cause Kim to submit to 
disinheritance rather than to profess one religious faith 
when he held another), of good social and professional 
standing, of affluent means, and full of enthusiasm in 
religious, literary, and musical interests. 

Milton's earliest education was entrusted to Rev. Dr. 
Young, from whom he went to St. Paul's School, and 
thence, in 1624, to Cambridge University, where he re- 
mained until 1632. During his collegiate course he was 
at first nicknamed " The Lady of the College," but soon 
won respect for himself. Between 1624 and 1632, he wrote 
his paraphrases of the 114th and 136th Psalms, and lines 
" On the Death of a Fair Infant." For the five years suc- 
ceeding the close of his college life, Milton was at his 
father's house at Horton, employed in prosecuting his stud- 
ies, and in producing "L' Allegro," "II Penseroso," "Ar- 
cades," " Comus," " Lycidas," and the Latin poem " Ad 
Patrem." In 1637, Milton lost his mother (to whom he 
was strongly attached), and visited the Continent for 
relief. At Paris he was introduced to the celebrated 
Grotius, then ambassador from Sweden to the Court of 
France. He next proceeded to Italy, visiting Nice, Genoa, 
Leghorn, Pisa, Florence, Naples, and Pome, and made the 
acquaintance of celebrated men and women, among whom 
may be mentioned Leonora Baroni and Galileo. He car- 
ried with him to Italy the reputation of being the most 
accomplished Englishman that ever visited her shores. 

After an absence of fifteen months, Milton returned to 
England because, as he said, upon receiving news of the 
civil commotions at home, " I thought it base to be travel- 
ling for amusement abroad, while my fellow-citizens were 



58 ENGLISH AND AMERICAN LITERATURE. 

fighting for liberty at home." In 1641 Milton published 
his first polemical pamphlet ; in 1649 he became Secretary 
of State ; in 1660 occurred " The Restoration," and Milton 
retired to a life of study and seclusion, having escaped the 
effects of Ms political action through the interest of friends 
(who had Ins name included in what was called the " Act 
of Oblivion"). 

In person Milton was under medium height, but of a 
compact frame. His hair was light brown (auburn during 
his younger years), eyes gray, face oval, and complexion 
ruddy. His best portrait is said to be that prefixed to his 
"History of Britain" (1670-74). 

Milton's work with his pen was voluminous ; and passing 
over his controversial efforts, we shall have still to name 
a long list of works which are neglected by many through 
ignorance, rather than from any inherent want of interest 
in the writings themselves. 

Ode on the Morning of Christ's Nativity. — A burst 
of descriptive poetry of which Hallam says, "It is acknowl- 
edged to be at once the finest of English Odes, and the 
least popular of Milton's poems. It is distinguished by 
grandeur, simplicity, breadth of manner, and by imagina- 
tion at once elevated and restrained." 

Samson Agonistes. — A drama after the manner of the 
Greek tragedies, and considered their best English repre- 
sentative. Hay ley calls attention to three points of re- 
semblance between Milton and Samson: (1) both had 
been tormented by beautiful but disobedient wives; (2) 
both had been the foremost of their country's champions ; 
(3) both were afflicted with blindness, and had fallen from 
the height of unrivalled glory to experience the utmost 
humiliation of fortune. 



THIRD ERA: FROM MILTON TO DRYDEN. 59 

Conins. — A masque (or entertainment, combining the 
song, the tableau, and dramatic representation). This was 
founded upon an accident to the daughter of the Earl of 
Bridgewater, by which she was for a few hours lost in the 
woods. Hallam says that " Comus " was sufficient to con- 
vince any one, of taste and feeling, that a great poet had 
arisen in England. 

Paradise Lost and Paradise Regained represent at 
once Milton's most mature effort, and the only successful 
English epic poems. Their titles sufficiently indicate their 
character, and they will be discussed more in detail when 
we consider the criticisms to which Milton's literary work 
is open. 

L' Allegro and II Penseroso are two companion poems 
which celebrate the pleasures of contemplative mirth and 
melancholy. 

Sonnets, of which may be named the one " On his own 
Blindness," and the one on the " Massacre of the Piedmon- 
tese." In these Milton showed that a form hitherto de- 
voted to light effusions, might be made the medium for 
the sternest feelings. 

Epithalamium, or Marriage Hymn, which is considered 
one of the noblest specimens of this kind of effort. 

In prose Milton is best remembered by his " Areopagit- 
ica, or Plea for the Freedom of the Press." 

Milton does not in general confine himself to the conven- 
tional truths of his age, but gives expression to its more 
permanent phases, a quality which will insure him an abid- 
ing interest. In his religious poems, however, he is limited 
by his formal theology ; he emphasizes the dogmas of his 
creed, and falls short in comprehension of the universal 
truths which lie at the foundation of all dogmas. 



60 ENGLISH AND AMERICAN LITERATURE. 

As a student, Milton has the rare quality of intellectual 
integrity ; if Ms opinions are not always sound, no one can 
question that they are always honest; as a man, his was 
a life of principle, and as a writer, his efforts are always 
determined by his beliefs. For scholarship and erudition, 
no writer can challenge comparison with him. His lan- 
guage is determined in part by the necessities of the times 
in which he lived, and the needs occasioned by the nature 
of his work ; but after all allowance, one must admit that 
Milton's vocabulary is unnecessarily learned. In his use 
of images, he has no superior; his versification shows 
great mastery, and has a majesty all its own. Examples of 
felicitous expression are numerous, and the imagery is 
perfect ; in short, on the formal side Milton has no supe- 
rior. On the other hand, we have to consider (1) the 
subject chosen ; (2) the mode of treatment ; (3) insights. 

1. His subjects are always poetical in the highest degree. 

2. See previous page. 3. Milton's insights lack the pro- 
fundity of genius, and yet he belongs to those who, if un- 
able to seize totalities, have hewn out great masses of 
truth. 

While in the elements of poetical art Milton is unsur- 
passed, he yet fails in his most ambitious efforts, if we 
regard them in reference to the art-form. Such subjects as 
" Paradise Lost " and " Paradise Regained " do not admit 
of artistic treatment in the epic or dramatic form when 
the poet and the readers are Protestants; for it is pos- 
sible for those only who recognize the Church as an 
authorized exponent of things divine, to deal in any 
but a lyric form with the world to come. Milton's great 
poems may serve to quicken our intellectual interests 



THIRD ERA: FROM MILTON TO DRYDEN. 61 

in regard to religion, but it is more than doubtful whether 
a Christian in distress would go to them for spiritual 
consolation. 

REFERENCES FOR THE STUDENT. 

Addison : The Spectator. 
Bagehot: Literary Studies. 
Blaisdell : Outline Study of the English Classics. 
Brydges : Imaginative Biographies. 
Channing, W. E. : Character and Writings of Milton. 
Cleveland, CD.: Life of Milton. 
Coleridge : Works. 
De Quincey : Essays. 
Dowden : Studies in Literature. 
Emerson : Men of Genius. 
Hallam : Literature of Europe 
Hazlitt: English Poets. 
Himes : Study of Paradise Lost, 
Johnson : English Poets. 
Lippincott's Biographical Dictionary- 
Macaulay: Essays. 
Marsh : English Language. 
Masson, D. : Essays ; Life of Milton. 
Morgan : Literary Studies. 

Morley, J. : English Men of Letters Series ; First Sketches of Eng- 
lish Literature. 
Morley, H. : Tables of English Literature. 
Pattison : Sonnets of Milton. 
Phillips : English Literature. 
Saintsbury : Elizabethan Literature. 
Saintsbury : English Prose Style. 
Schlegel : History of Literature. 
Seeley : Roman Imperialism. 
Taine : English Literature. 
Whipple : Character and Characteristic Men. 
Wordsworth : Sonnet on Milton. 



62 ENGLISH AND AMERICAN LITERATURE. 



TOPICAL RESUME. 
(chapter rv.) 

The Third Era — dates and authors used to mark its limits. 

Mention changes in the language, and describe the literary influ- 
ences. 

Dates and services of Milton's contemporaries and successors; 
Denham, Waller, poets; Baxter, Browne, Evelyn, Taylor, writers 
in prose. 

Events personal and literary in the career of Milton ? Reasons for 
a scholarship more generous than customary ? Merits of Milton as 
a writer ? Characteristics and influence upon others ? 



CHAPTER V. 

FOURTH ERA: FROM DRYDEN TO JOHNSON. (1658-1728.) 

The period during which Dryden lived could give us 
such literature only as had its roots in better soil. The 
return of Charles the Second from France inaugurated a 
period of social license, caused in part by a taste which he 
and his followers had imbibed during their exile, and in 
part by the natural reaction against the austerity which 
marked the time of the Commonwealth. 

Dryden stands as an excellent exemplar of the tenden- 
cies of the time during which he lived, and affords the 
melancholy spectacle of a man of great powers wasting 
them, for he sacrificed his future reputation to the vicious 
taste of his times. 

The levity of Charles the Second's reign naturally 
tended towards a speedy reaction, and the manifestations 
of this change mark the beginning of the eighteenth cen- 
tury. As should be expected, effort was directed first to 
the improvement and purification of literary forms. We 
find in Pope the best representative among the poets, while 
to Addison we owe the perfecting of Simple Prose Style. 
Henceforth, elegant and exact scholarship, together with 
finish of style, were to be requisites of literary success. In 
spirit Dean Swift belongs to the days of Dryden, although 
his works were written in the latter part of the era. 

The following 'writers of this era deserve to be spoken 
of here: Thomas Otway (1675) was a distinguished 

63 



64 ENGLISH AND AMERICAN LITERATURE. 

dramatist, and his best play, "Venice Preserved," still 
holds the stage. George Berkeley, Bishop of Cloyne 
(1707), one of the best of men and a finished writer, 
acntely defended the idealistic scheme of philosophy in his 
"Principles of Human Knowledge," and "Minute Phi- 
losopher," a series of dialogues in the manner of Plato. 
The hymns of Dr. Isaac Watts (1706) are sung wherever 
the English language has gained a foothold. Lord Boling- 
broke (1730), the intimate friend of Pope, furnished that 
poet with his philosophy. William Congreve (1691), a most 
accomplished man, held the highest place as a dramatist 
during this era; his tragedy "The Mourning Bride" has 
deservedly elicited high admiration. Lady Mary Wortley 
Montagu (1716) has left letters distinguished for epistolary 
ease and great charm of expression. Sir Isaac Newton 
(1687), the greatest of physicists, established natural 
philosophy as a science in his great work, the " Principia." 
Lady Rachel Russell (1656-1773) gave us the first literary 
correspondence. Sir Richard Steele (1701), although an 
admirable writer, and the inventor of the inimitable " Sir 
Roger de Coverley " (vide The Spectator) is, nevertheless, 
mainly noteworthy as the founder of The Spectator. Sir 
William Temple (1661) by his essays aided considerably 
in the formation of English Prose Style. William Wych- 
erley (1672) was the intimate friend of the youthful Pope, 
and wrote dramas of the so-called profligate school. Sam- 
uel Butler (1663) wrote " Huclibras," the chief of English 
burlesque poems ; his minor poems do not deserve the 
neglect which has befallen them. John Bunyan (1656), 
whose " Pilgrim's Progress " has afforded consolation to so 
many when in trouble, reached the highest place as an 
allegorist. The principal work of Richard Baxter (1613) 



FOURTH ERA : FROM DRYDEN TO JOHNSON. 65 

is "The Saint's Everlasting Rest." The "Diary" of 
Samuel Pepys (1633-1703) deserves to be read. Edward 
Hyde, Lord Clarendon (1676), in his "History of the 
Rebellion " has left an admirable specimen of contempora- 
neous history. John Locke (1660) author of the " Essay 
on the Human Understanding," holds a high place among 
English metaphysicians, and has been a potent influence in 
the progress of English thought. Edward Young's (1713) 
"Night Thoughts," a religious poem, has afforded many 
both profit and solace. 

Tillotson (1672), Barrow (1683), and South (1693) 
represent the strength and glory of the Episcopal pulpit. 

HISTORY OF AUTHORSHIP. 

Among rude peoples, the composer of songs occupies 
the place of vates, or prophet. His commerce with the 
spiritual world is considered something supernatural. Such 
was measurably the status of the early minstrels or bards. 
With the advance of civilization this glory belonging to 
the minstrel declined, and composition passed into other 
hands. The commonalty were wholly deprived of educa- 
tion; the nobility being busy with ambitious projects or 
knightly amusements, literature was left to the priest- 
hood. The prevailing character of this section of English 
literature is therefore theological and metaphysical. Even 
in Chaucer's time writings were of this general character. 
The introduction of printing by Caxton in 1474 inaug- 
urated a new era ; with the diffusion of intelligence and 
the revival of ancient learning, literature entered on the 
glorious course which it ran during the reigns of Elizabeth 
and James. Literature was now one of the chief interests 



66 ENGLISH AND AMERICAN LITERATURE. 

of the nation. The greatest men did not disdain to hold 
the pen, and the successful author might expect rewards 
from the crown or the illustrious patrons of literature, and 
association with men like Raleigh, Sidney, and Bacon. The 
miserable career of Marlowe and others is probably as 
much due to inherent incapacity to solve the practical 
problem of life as to the unfavorable condition of the age. 
The ascendency of Puritanism during the continuance of 
the Commonwealth under Cromwell left an unfavorable 
impress upon literature as on all forms of art, an impress 
not mitigated by the increasing strength of French in- 
fluences. 

With Dryden begins the affiliation of literature with 
politics; and the reward of successful effort is political 
preferment, as in the case of Addison or Swift. Pope, 
however, was, for several reasons, indisposed to such 
honors. He was a man of independent means and a Cath- 
olic in religion. He accepted literature as the work of his 
life, and was satisfied with such rewards as naturally grew 
out of his endeavor, regardless of factitious emoluments. 
He was a professional writer, and his experiment was 
attended with the amplest success. His remuneration for 
the translations of Homer was greater than had fallen to 
the lot of any preceding writer, and has hardly been ex- 
celled by the writers of to-day. The condition of minor 
writers during this time was wretched almost beyond be- 
lief ; the early life of Dr. Johnson is a pitiable record of 
poverty and recklessness. Collins became insane through 
the accumulated miseries of insanity and starvation. But 
the example of Pope remained ; and from his day to our 
own the professors of literature have gradually won for 
themselves the position of recognized leaders of thought. 






FOURTH ERA : FROM DRYDEN TO JOHNSON. 67 

Literature has become an acknowledged social force, and in 
the hands of Carlyle, or Ruskin, or Tennyson, or Brown- 
ing, fully justifies its claims to leadership. 

Dryden. 

John Dryden was born in 1631, and died in 1700. 
His grandfather had been created a knight, and his own 
family was able to educate him at Westminster school 
(where he translated a satire from Persius and composed 
an elegy), and subsequently at the University of Cam- 
bridge. In 1607, he went to London, and while acting as 
secretary for a relative, he began his literary career by his 
"Heroic stanzas on the Death of Oliver Cromwell." In 
1662, Dryden first appeared as a dramatist, and during the 
next twenty-seven years he wrote twenty-seven plays : 
this fertility was consistent with the employment of his pen 
upon many other kinds of literary effort. Of these 
dramas Chambers says : " Dry den's plays have fallen com- 
pletely into oblivion. He could reason powerfully in verse, 
and had the command of rich stores of language, informa- 
tion, and imagery. Strong, energetic characters and 
passions he could portray with considerable success, but he 
had not art or judgment to construct an interesting or 
consistent drama, or to preserve himself from extravagance 
or absurdity. The female characters, and softer passions 
seem to have been entirely beyond his reach. His love is 
always licentiousness — his tenderness, a mere trick of the 
stage. Like Voltaire, he probably never drew a tear from 
the reader or the spectator. His merit consists in a sort of 
Eastern magnificence of style and in the richness of his 
versification. The bowl and dagger, glory, ambition, lust, 
and crime, — are the staple materials of his tragedy, and 



68 ENGLISH AND AMERICAN LITERATURE. 

lead occasionally to poetical grandeur and brilliancy of 
fancy. His comedy is, with scarce an exception, false to 
nature, improbable, and ill-arranged, and subversive equally 
of taste and morality." 

Dryden's works, other than dramatic, may be repre- 
sented by the "Essay on Dramatic Poetry," — an essay 
still held in esteem; "Absalom and Achitophel," l and 
"The Medal," versified satires which, as employed in poli- 
tics, Dryden invented, and by which he is best known to 
readers of the present day ; " Religio Laid" intended as a 
defence of the Scriptures; "The Dialogues of the Hind 
and the Panther" — a defence of the Roman Church 
against the claims of the Church of England ; " Transla- 
tions of Persius, Juvenal, and Virgil" — the last of which 
has not been replaced, notwithstanding the serious defects 
which may readily be found in it; and the "Ode on Saint 
Cecilia's Day," which is the best known of his minor 
poems, and the best worth knowing. He shares with Sir 
William Temple the honor of forming prose style, and 
apart from the "Essay on Dramatic Poetry" already 
mentioned, his prose works consists of prefaces and dedi- 
cations. 

As a writer, Dryden is described by Thomas Campbell, 
as follows : " He is a writer of manly and elastic character. 
His strong judgment gave force as well as direction to a 
flexible fancy; and his harmony is generally the echo of 
solid thoughts. But he "was not gifted with intense or 
lofty sensibility ; on the contrary, the grosser any idea is, 
the happier he seems to expatiate upon it. The transports 
of the heart and the deep and varied delineations of the 
passions are strangers to his poetry. He could describe 
1 Pronounced A-kit'-o-phel. 



FOURTH ERA: FROM DRYDEN TO JOHNSON. 69 

character in the abstract, but could not embody it in the 
drama; for he entered into character more from clear 
perception than fervid sympathy. This great High Priest 
of all the nine was not a confessor to the finer secrets of 
the human breast." 

Sir Walter Scott in speaking of Dryden's prose re- 
marks : " The prose of Dry den may rank with the best 
in the English language ; it is no less of his own formation 
than his versification; it is equally spirited and equally 
harmonious. Without the lengthened and pedantic sen- 
tences of Clarendon, it is dignified when dignity is becom- 
ing, and is lively without the accumulation of strained and 
absurd allusions and metaphors, which were unfortunately 
mistaken for wit by many of the author's contemporaries. " 
Poetry, as Hazlitt says " had degenerated from poetry of 
the imagination to poetry of fancy, and from the poetry of 
fancy to the poetry of wit." We have therefore to con- 
sider Dryden as the founder of a school of poetry, and as 
the strongest mind of his period ; the other writers of this 
era represent the full perfection of his style, while in 
virtue of his influence and of his natural strength, Dryden 
should be regarded as the type. 

REFERENCES FOR THE STUDENT. 

Campbell : British Poets. 

Coleridge, H : Northern Worthies. 

Dallas : The Gay Science. 

Hallam : Literature of Europe. 

Hazlitt : English Poets. 

Hows : Golden Leaves frorn the Dramatic Poets. 

Johnson : Lives of the English Poets. 

Lowell : Among My Books. 

Macaulay: Essays. 



70 ENGLISH AND AMERICAN LITERATURE. 

Morley : English Men of Letters Series. 
Phillips : English Literature. 
Saintsbury : English Prose Style. 
Scott : Life of Dryden. 
Thackeray : English Humorists. 

Addison. 

Joseph Addison was the son of Launcelot Addison, the 
rector of Milston, and was born in 1672. His school days 
were passed at the Charter House, 1 where he made the 
acquaintance of Richard Steele. From school, Addison 
went to the University of Oxford, where his father had 
passed his college days, and where young Addison won 
distinction by his Latin poems. Addison began his literary 
career when he was twenty-two years of age, by a poem 
called "An Address to Dryden." This gained him the 
friendship of that great man ; and shortly after, Lord S out- 
ers, being pleased with a poem addressed to King William, 
secured for Addison a pension of three hundred pounds a 
year. Four years later (1699), Addison continued his edu- 
cation by a trip to Italy, where he remained for three years, 
enjoying the reputation of being the most elegant scholar 
in England, and finding his interest in such places as had 
been hallowed by the mention of the Latin poets. The 
death of King William deprived Addison of his pension, 
and caused his return to London. In 1704, the Battle of 
Blenheim occurred, and Addison celebrated, in " The Cam- 
paign," the glories of the Duke of Marlborough. The 
immediate and marked popularity of this poem led to 
Addison's appointment as Commissioner of Appeals, and 

1 A London monastery founded under Edward III., and subsequently 
converted into a well-known school. 



FOURTH ERA: FROM DRYDEN TO JOHNSON. 71 

two years later, as Under Secretary of State ; subsequently 
he went to Ireland as Secretary of State, from which posi- 
tion he retired with a pension of fifteen hundred pounds a 
year. This he enjoyed until his death in 1719. 

Addison's personal character determined that of his 
literary efforts, and hence possesses special claims to 
notice. 

Addison's fame now rests upon his essays in "The 
Spectator ; " but in his own time he was best known for 
his scholarship and conversational powers, and his reputa- 
tion was founded upon his poems, (of which the " Letter to 
Lord Halifax" is considered the finest). His drama enti- 
tled "Cato" was remarkably successful; but later genera- 
tions have decided that this success was undeserved, and 
due rather to political excitement than to intrinsic merit. 

"The Spectator," "The Tatler," and " The Guardian," 
were the names of three series of essays of which " The 
Spectator" is the most enjoyable. " The Tatler" was begun 
in 1709 by Richard Steele, who from his position under 
government had access to the earliest news from the Conti- 
nent, and who conceived the idea of using this advantage 
by publishing occasional bulletins. The original idea was 
modified, so that these essays, as collected, treat of the fash- 
ions, of the various social characters, and of literary criti- 
cism. Selling for a penny apiece, they became immediately 
popular, and sometimes reached a daily circulation of 
twenty thousand. To this enterprise we owe (1) an in- 
creased desire for reading; (2) an improvement in public 
taste and morality; (3) the formation of simple prose 
style ; and (4) the literary forms represented in modern 
times by the review, the magazine (monthly), and the 
newspaper. The interest of these essays to the general 



i'Z ENGLISH AND AMERICAN LITERATURE. 

student must rest upon the papers containing criticisms of 
"Paradise Lost;" or else must arise from the desire to 
study prose style under one of its greatest masters. 

Dryden and Sir William Temple were the first to 
write with such reference to the principles of the language, 
that prose became a matter of art, but Addison perfected 
simple prose. Dr. Johnson, who was thoroughly acquainted 
with the resources of English, said, that " to attain a style 
familiar but not coarse, elegant but not ostentatious, one 
must give his days and nights to Addison;" and this judg- 
ment has been affirmed, by posterity. If we consider Addi- 
son's rhetorical excellences and defects, we shall find him 
unsurpassed in purity and propriety, and defective in pre- 
cision ; in the construction of Ms sentences, easy, agreeable, 
and musical; in the use of figurative language noticeably 
happy, so that he impresses us by his elegant ease and 
simplicity ; it is the predominance of elegance over strength 
that led President Bascom to call him, " A polished shaft 
in the temple of letters ; we are more struck by the beauty 
of workmanship, than with the weight supported." 

If now we pass to an inquiry as to the character and 
value of his work, we may say that " in Addison the reader 
will find a rich but chaste vein of humor and satire ; les- 
sons of morality and religion, divested of all austerity and 
gloom; . . . and pictures of national characters and man- 
ners that must ever charm from their vivacity and truth." 

REFERENCES FOR THE STUDENT. 

Aikin, Lucy : Life of Addison. 
Blair: Rhetoric. 

Drake : Essays on the Guardian, etc, 
Hazlitt : English Comic Writers. 



FOURTH ERA : FROM DRYDEN TO JOHNSON. 73 

Howitt: Homes of British Poets. 

Hows : Golden Leaves from the Dramatic Poets. 

Jeffrey: Essays. 

Johnson : Lives of English Poets. 

Lippincotf s Biographical Dictionary. 

Macaulay: Essays. 

Minto : English Prose Literature. 

Phillips : English Literature. 

Saintsbury : English Prose Style. 

Taine : English Literature. 

Thackeray: English Humorists. 



Pope. 

Alexander Pope may be considered the most success- 
ful pupil in the school of Diyden, and from the perfection 
of his special work his poems seem to belong to modern 
literature. He was born in 1688, and died in 1744. His 
father was a retired linen-draper, who possessed a fortune 
estimated at twenty thousand pounds, and who educated 
his son at home and at private schools, living to see him 
at the summit of his fame. 

As a child, Pope was distinguished for feebleness and 
delicacy of constitution, and mildness and sweetness of 
temper. He learned to write by copying printed books ; 
at eight years of age he was taught the rudiments of Latin 
and Greek. While at school Pope read with pleasure 
"Ogilby's Homer," and "Sandy's Ovid," besides Waller, 
Spenser, and Dry den, among the English poets. When but 
twelve years of age he wrote his " Ode to Solitude," and 
at fourteen translated Statius, and modernized Chaucer, 
besides executing imitations of many of the English poets. 
Whatever the imperfections of our great poet's person 
or temper, yet the vigor, force, and activity of his mind 



74 ENGLISH AND AMERICAN LITERATURE. 

were almost unparalleled. His whole life and every hour 
of it was devoted solely and with unswerving diligence to 
cultivate that one art in which he had determined to excel. 

Of Pope's poems we may mention "The Rape of the 
Lock," his translations of the " Iliad " and of the " Odyssey," 
"Essay on Criticism," "The Messiah," "Essay on Man," 
"The Epistle of Eloisa to Abelard," and the "Dunciad." 

The Rape of the Lock is a mock-heroic poem, and its 
treasures of wit and fancy are inexhaustible. Hazlitt in 
speaking of it says, " The quantity of thought and observa- 
tion in this work, for so young a man as Pope was when 
he wrote it, is wonderful ; unless we adopt the supposition 
that most men of genius spend the rest of their lives in 
teaching others what they themselves have learned under 
twenty. The conciseness and felicity of the expression 
is equally remarkable." The translations of the " Iliad " 
and the " Odyssey " are very faulty when viewed as trans- 
lations, as they reproduce neither the spirit nor the move- 
ment of Homer , but after adding the additional blemish 
of inaccurate scholarship, it ma}^ still be said that we have 
no descriptive poems in our language which so justly charm 
all readers. 

The Essay on Criticism is remarkable alike for being 
the production of a very young man, and for its happy 
statement of the principles of formal literary art that must 
ever be regarded by successful writers. 

The Essay on Man is noticeable as showing the taste 
in literature, and as marking the necessary failure of any 
one who bodies forth the metaphysical ideas of another. 

The Messiah is a paraphrase of the fourth eclogue of 
Virgil, and appropriates to Christian use the beauties of the 
heathen poet. 



FOURTH ERA : FROM DRYDEN TO JOHNSON. I b 

The Epistle of Eloisa to Abelard has its foundation 
in the letters of Eloisa and Abelard. " It is fine as a poem : 
it is finer as a piece of high-wrought eloquence. No woman 
could be supposed to write a finer love letter in verse." 
(Hazlitt.') De Quincey says : " The self-conflict, the flux 
and reflux of the poor agitated heart — the spectacle of 
Eloisa now bending penitentially before the shadowy 
austerities of a monastic future, now raving upon the 
remembrances of a guilty past — one moment reconciled 
by the very anguish of her soul to the grandeurs of religion, 
and of prostrate adoration, the next moment revolting to 
perilous retrospects of her treacherous happiness — the 
recognition by shining gleams, through the very storm and 
darkness evoked by her earthly sensibilities, of a sensibility 
deeper far in its ground, and that trembled towards holier 
objects — the lyrical tumult of the changes, the hope, the 
tears, the rapture, the penitence, the despair — place the 
reader in tumultuous sympathy with the poor, distracted 
nun." Apart from the beauty of the poem, it most 
adequately represents the passion and the creative imagina- 
tion which belonged to Pope, but which were excluded 
from his other poems by the artificial taste of his age. 

The Dunciad was written to take vengeance upon all 
the writers who had in any way offended Pope, and it at 
once represents his power of withering sarcasm, and mani- 
fests the spirit which seems to us so unamiable. 

Pope's language is faultless, but the same praise cannot 
be given to his grammatical constructions, which are pro- 
nounced " lame " by Hazlitt. His rhymes are frequently 
defective, and while his diction is noticeably felicitous, 
his versification is artificial. Thomas Campbell says, 
"Pope gave our heroic couplet its strictest melody and 



76 ENGLISH AND AMERICAN LITERATURE. 

tersest expression. . . . He has a gracefully peculiar 
manner, though it is not calculated to be an universal one. 
. . . His pauses have little variety, and his phrases are too 
much weighed in the balance of antithesis." 

The merits of Pope as an artist lie in his felicity of 
diction ; in the rapid precision of thought, which atones 
for the labored antithesis of style. " Pope was not then 
distinguished as a poet of lofty enthusiasm, or strong 
imagination, with a passionate sense of the beauties of 
nature, or a deep insight into the workings of the heart ; 
but lie was a wit and a critic, a man of sense, of observa- 
tion, and the world, with a keen relish for the elegances of 
art or of nature when embellished by art, a quick tact for 
propriety of thought and manners as established by the 
forms and customs of society, a refined sympathy with the 
sentiments and habitudes of human life, as he felt them 
within the little circle of his family and friends. . . . He 
saw nature only dressed by art ; he judged of beauty by 
f ashion ; he sought for truth in the opinions of the world ; 
he judged of the feelings of others by his own." 

REFERENCES FOR THE STUDENT. 

Campbell : British Poets. 

DeQuincey: Essays. 

D 'Israeli : Quarrels of Authors. 

Fields, J. T. : Yesterdays with Authors. 

Hazlitt : English Comic Writers ; English Poets. 

Howitt : Homes of British Poets 

Johnson : Lives of English Poets. 

Lowell : My Study Windows. 

Morley, J. : Men of Letters Series. 

Morley, H. : Tables of English Literature. 

Phillips : English Literature. 



FOURTH ERA: FROM DRYDEN TO JOHNSON. 77 

Prescott : Miscellanies. 

Reed, H. : Lectures on English Literature. 

Roscoe : Edition. 

Sainte-Beuve : English Portraits. 

Stephen : Hours in a Library. 

Thackeray : English Humorists. 

Warton, J : The Genius of Pope. 



De Foe. 

Daniel De Foe was born in 1661, and died in 1731 ; he 
was the son of a London butcher, (a Dissenter), and was 
educated for the ministry. He began life as a hosier ; and 
throughout his " threescore years and ten " always supple- 
mented his literary work with business employments. His 
most active interest was in Politics, and in improvements 
in Commerce and Invention. These subjects occupy most 
of the two hundred and ten books and pamphlets which 
form his contribution to literature. As a man, he was 
distinguished, under trials and failures calculated to destroy 
and weaken character, by great energy of mind and body, 
by a desire for the success of all that promised to promote 
general prosperity and happiness. 

De Foe is now known by his fiction of Robinson Crusoe, 
but Charles Lamb says that at least four others, (Roxana, 
Singleton, Moll Flanders, and Colonel Jack), have no infe- 
rior interest. Literature in De Foe's time (and even so 
late as the first quarter of the present century) was criti- 
cized in a partisan spirit, and this has prevented its being 
generally known that De Foe's essay on " Projects," his 
" History of the Union " (of Scotland and England), his 
" Plan of English Commerce," and his " Giving Alms no 
Charity," are works whose present merits are vouched for 



10 ENGLISH AND AMERICAN LITERATURE. 

by those most familiar with the subjects of which they 
treat. His great merit as a writer is the skill of his fiction, 
and the marvellous simplicity of his language and style. 

REFERENCES FOR THE STUDENT. 

Coleridge: Works. 

Forster : Historical and Biographical Essays. 

Hazlitt : Works of De Foe. 

Masson, D. : British Novelists. 

Minto : English Prose Literature. 

Morley : English Men of Letters Series. 

Roscoe : Essays. 

Saintsbury : English Prose Style. 

Scott Edition ; Miscellaneous Works. 

Stephen : Hours in a Library. 

Swift. 

Jonathan Swift, most frequently spoken of as Dean 
Swift, was born in Dublin in 1667, and lived, mostly in 
London, until 1745. His grandmother was an aunt of 
the poet Dryden, and his mother Was related to Sir William 
Temple. Swift's father died a few months before the birth 
of his son, who was educated at the expense of his uncle. 
At the age of fifteen, Swift entered Trinity College as a 
"pensioner," and distinguished himself by a contempt of 
the rules, and a defiance of legitimate authority, rather than 
by success in his studies. When twenty-one, he entered 
the family of Sir William Temple as secretary ; the ten 
years that he passed in this family gave him the stimulus, 
the opportunity, and the means for study, and for forming 
the acquaintance of the prominent people of the day. 
On the other hand, Swift's subordinate position did much 



FOURTH ERA : FROM DRYDEN TO JOHNSON. 79 

to irritate that pride of intellect which was at once his 
strength and his weakness. 

In 1701, Swift published " A Discourse on the Contests 
and Dissensions between the Nobles and Commons at 
Athens and Rome," a political pamphlet which gave him 
a high rank in the Whig party. The " Tale of a Tub '' 
— an allegory, satirizing the various religious denomina- 
tions — was published in 1704. "The Drapier Letters," 
a series of protests against a patent for coin to circulate in 
Ireland, were written in 1724, and made Swift the idol of 
the Irish populace. " The Battle of the Books " is a 
satire upon the quarrel between the advocates of Ancient 
and Modern Learning. " Gulliver's Travels," a satire upon 
humanity in general, appeared in 1726. 

Swift is distinguished for the idiomatic English of his 
language and construction, for the vigor of his style, and 
for his masculine intellect. His defects are a vulgarity 
and coarseness, not excusable by the gross views of the age 
to which he belonged, the relative low rank of all satire, 
and the want of present interest in his themes. 

REFERENCES FOR THE STUDENT. 

Coleridge: Works. 

Forster : Life of Swift. 

Hall am : Literature of Europe. 

Hazlitt : English Comic Writers. 

Jeffrey : Essays ; Edinburgh Review, Vol. 27. 

Johnson : Lives of the English Poets. 

Lippincott's Biographical Dictionary. 

Macaulay : Essays. 

Minto : English Prose Literature. 

Murphy : Life and Genius of Swift. 

Phillips : English Literature. 



80 ENGLISH AND AMERICAN LITERATURE. 

Saintsbury : English Prose Style. 
Scott: Edition. 
Taine : English Literature. 
Thackeray : English Humorists. 

TOPICAL RESUME. 

(chapter v.) 

The Fourth Era — dates and authors used to mark its limits. 

Give an accomit of changes in the language, and in the literary 
influences. 

Mention names, dates, and services of Dryden's contemporaries 
and successors : Butler, Congreve, Otway, Watts, Wycherley, 
Young, poets ; Barrow, Berkeley, Bolingbroke, Bunyan, Clarendon, 
Locke, Newton, Pepys, South, Steele, Temple, Tillotson, writers in 
prose. 

Give the history of authorship. Speak critically of the works, 
merits, and services of Addison, Dryden, Pope, De Foe, and Swift. 



CHAPTER VI. 

FIFTH ERA: FROM JOHNSON TO COWPER. (1732-1781.) 

In this period the reaction which took place in the pre- 
ceding era passed beyond form, and henceforth we may 
expect literary work that is neither rude in form nor 
vicious in essence. Dr. Johnson's influence governs this 
period, and there was need of a man who should claim for 
moral character the recognition which had been so long 
withheld. While Johnson's poetry belongs in style to the 
school of Dryden, it resembles this in no other respect. 
Thomson, Gay, and Goldsmith mark the return of poetry 
to poetical themes ; while Hume and Robertson give us 
more simple, easy, and natural prose. 

The minor writers of this era, whose services to literature 
require their mention here, are as follows : James Bos well 
(1768), who wrote our first biography, the famous " Life of 
Dr. Johnson"; Thomas Chatterton, the "marvellous boy," 
whose forged MS. poems (published, 1771, after his death) 
in ancient style deceived excellent judges, and whose 
work for one so young is extremely remarkable ; David 
Garrick (1768), a great actor, who restored Shakespeare to 
the English stage, and himself wrote or adapted plays ; 
Bishop Percy (1762), whose published collection of ancient 
ballads, had an important bearing on the development of 
English poetry; Samuel Richardson (1741), who is the 
author of the first English novel, " Pamela " ; William 
Collins (1742), whose odes are full of energy and music, 

81 



82 ENGLISH AND AMERICAN LITERATURE. 

and deserve still to be read ; and Horace Walpole (1757), 
whose " Castle of Otranto " was the earliest English prose 
romance. Junius (1769) published anonymously a series 
of political letters, the honor of whose authorship has 
been ascribed to no less than forty-two persons. Of 
these the claims of Sir Philip Francis are considered the 
strongest. 

Richard Brinsley Sheridan (1773), brilliant as an orator 
and a dramatist, has, in " The School for Scandal," left the 
best comedy of modern times. 

Lady Rachel Russell's " Letters " (1773) were famous 
in her time, and historically represent the beginning of 
the literary form of letters in regard to travel. 

Lady Mary Wortley Montagu (1716), whose works 
were posthumous in their publication, has left letters distin- 
guished by epistolary ease and great charm of expression. 

Fielding. 

Henry Fielding was the son of Lieutenant-General 
Fielding, and the great-grandson of the Earl of Denbigh. 
He was born in Somersetshire in 1707. After a course at 
Eton, he studied for two years at the University of Leyden, 
but his father's circumstances becoming straitened, he 
returned to London, and became a dramatic writer. In 
1734, he married a lady of some property, but owing to his 
lavish hospitality, three years sufficed to compel his 
resumption of authorship as a means of support. In 1742, 
he published his novel, " Joseph Andrews," and at once 
established his reputation as the great novelist of his gen- 
eration ; in 1749 he published " Tom Jones," and in 1751 
" Amelia." In 1750, Fielding was appointed Justice of the 



FIFTH ERA : FROM JOHNSON TO COWPER. 83 

Peace for Middlesex, a position for which he is said " to 
have been well fitted by his knowledge of law and of crimr 
inal character," and in which " he evinced a laudable zeal 
for the public interest." 

He was little inferior to Shakespeare, though without 
any of the genius and poetical qualities of his mind. His 
humor is less rich and laughable than Smollett's; his 
wit as often misses as hits; he has none of the fine 
pathos of Richardson or Sterne ; but he has brought 
together a greater variety of characters in common life, 
marked with more distinct peculiarities, and without an 
atom of caricature, than any other novel writer whatever. 
The extreme subtlety of observation of the springs of 
human conduct in ordinary characters, is only equalled 
by the ingenuity of contrivance in bringing these springs 
into play in such a manner as to lay open their smallest 
irregularity. 

Fielding is yet without a superior as a novelist. Thack- 
eray says : "As a picture of manners, the novel of ' Tom 
Jones ' is indeed exquisite ; as a work of construction, 
quite a wonder ; the by-play of wisdom, the power of 
observation, the multiplied felicitous turns and thoughts, 
the varied character of the great comic epic, keep the 
reader in a perpetual admiration and curiosity. But 
against Mr. Thomas Jones himself we have a right to put 
in a protest, and quarrel with the esteem the author evi- 
dently has for that character. Charles Lamb says finely of 
Jones, that a single hearty laugh from him ' clears the air ' 
— but that is, in a certain state of the atmosphere." As 
the novel presents its pictures through the manners and 
habits of its own generation, we are not to be surprised 
because great novels speedily become antiquated. Yet to 



84 ENGLISH AND AMERICAN LITERATURE. 

those who study the novel as a literary form, instead of 
reading novels for amusement, Fielding will rank first 
among novelists, because he presents the actual world, 
instead of depicting his characters merely as they may 
appear to him. A critic credits Fielding with being 
" thoroughly English, remarkable for profound knowledge 
of human nature, (at least, of English nature), and mas- 
terly pictures of the characters of men as he saw them 
existing." 

REFERENCES FOR THE STUDENT. 

Blair : Rhetoric. 
Coleridge : Works. 
Craik : English Literature. 
Forsyth : Novels and Novelists. 
Lanier : The English Novel. 
Masson, D. : British Novelists. 
Morley : Englishmen of Letters Series. 
Roscoe : Life and Works of Fielding. 
Scott : Lives of the Novelists. 
Thackeray. : English Humorists. 
Tuckerman, B. : English Prose Fiction. 
Whipple : Essays and Reviews, 



Johnson. 

Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) was the son of a book- 
seller, who gave him three years at Oxford. In 1732, he 
became usher of a school, but in the same year gave up 
this situation, and contributed to the papers. In 1736, 
he married a rich widow, and opened an academy at Ednil, 
received three pupils, (David Garrick and brother, and one 
other), and, in 1737, sought London and success through 
literature. Christopher North says of Johnson : " He had 



FIFTH ERA : FROM JOHNSON TO COWPER. 85 

noble faculties and noble feelings ; a hate as high as 
heaven of wickedness ; a scorn as high, of all that was 
base or mean; wide knowledge of the world, of London, 
of life ; severe judgment ; imagination not very various, 
perhaps, but very vivid, and, when conjoined with such 
an intellect, even wonder-working in realms that seemed 
scarcely of right to belong to the solemn sage." 

Dr. Johnson was the literary autocrat of the period in 
which he lived, and which could have had no more compe- 
tent director. As a poet, Dr. Johnson has no claim upon a 
truly poetical age, and yet during his own life he was held 
in esteem. " Irene," an unsuccessful tragedy, and " London," 
a satire, represent Dr. Johnson's poetry. "Rasselas " is the 
title of a prose romance, and illustrates the moral senten- 
tiousness of which Dr. Johnson, was capable. The great 
work of Dr. Johnson's life was the preparation of a dic- 
tionary of the English language ; a labor which occupied 
seven years, and whose magnitude can be partially appre- 
ciated when it is stated that from his priority as a lexicog- 
rapher he could derive no assistance from the labors of 
others. Dr. Johnson's dictionary has been the basis of later 
efforts, and, while we no longer appeal to him as an 
authority, we must bear in mind the historical importance 
of his work. " The Lives of the Poets " was a literary " job," 
the names having been selected by the publisher. While 
Dr. Johnson was eminently disqualified for the proper 
treatment of some of his themes, and while some of the 
poets selected are no longer noteworthy, there yet re- 
main many essays which are entitled to careful study. 
Stimulated by the example and success of Addison, John- 
son published a series of essays in " The Rambler," " The 
Idler," " The Adventurer " ; these essays are still of value 



86 ENGLISH AND AMERICAN LITERATURE. 

to young people, and have lost their interest for older 
readers only because the progress of the world soon renders 
"the ideas of one generation the institutions of the next.' ; 
Sir James Mackintosh says : " Some heaviness and weari- 
ness must be felt by most readers at the perusal of essays 
on life and manners, written like i The Rambler ' ; but it 
ought never to be forgotten that the two most popular 
writers of the eighteenth century, Addison and Johnson, 
were such efficacious teachers of virtue, that their writings 
may be remembered among the causes which, in an impor- 
tant degree, have contributed to preserve and to improve 
the morality of the British nation." Finally, there is to be 
mentioned Dr. Johnson's edition of Shakespeare, with a 
preface and notes ; the preface is still held in the highest 
esteem by Shakespearian scholars, while the notes are con- 
jectural, and not very felicitous even as conjectures. John- 
son is one of the great names in English literature ; he pos- 
sessed a mind of inexhaustible vigor ; his style and language 
are artificial and faulty to such a degree that he has been 
said by Macaulay to write in a dialect called " Johnsonese " ; 
his critical acumen was great, but a deficiency of poetic 
sensibility prevented him from recognizing the merits of 
some of the greatest poets ; his own efforts in poetry no 
longer preserve their reputation ; but his vigor of intellect, 
and his great work in philology have made him forever 
memorable. 

REFERENCES FOR THE STUDENT. 

Allibone : Dictionary of Authors. 

Bagehot : Literary Studies. 

Bascom : Philosophy of English Literature. 

Boswell : Life of Johnson. 

Carlyle : Heroes and Hero- Worship. 



FIFTH ERA : FROM JOHNSON TO COWPER. 87 

Dallas : The Gay Science. 

Drake : Essays. 

Hawthorne, 1ST. : Our Old Home. 

Hows : Golden Leaves from the Dramatic Poets. 

Lippincotfs Biographical Dictionary. 

Murphy : Life and Genius of Johnson. 

Phillips : English Literature. 

Scott : Lives of the Novelists. 

Hume. 

David Hume, in his autobiography, says : " I was born 
the 26th of April, 1711, old style, at Edinborough. I was 
of a good family, both by father and mother. My family, 
however, was not rich, and, being myself a younger brother, 
*my patrimony, according to the mode of my country, was 
of course very slender. I passed through the ordinary 
course of education with success, and was seized very early 
with a passion for literature, which has been the ruling 
passion of my life, and the great source of my enjoyments. 
My studious disposition, my sobriety, and my industry gave 
my family a notion that the law was a proper profession 
for me ; but I found an insurmountable aversion to every- 
thing but the pursuit of philosophy and general learning ; 
and while they fancied I was poring upon Voet and Vin- 
nius, Cicero and Virgil were the authors I was secretly 
devouring. In 1734, I went to Bristol with some recom- 
mendations to eminent merchants, but, in a few months, 
found that scene totally unsuitable to me. I went over to 
France, with a view of prosecuting my studies in a country 
retreat; and I there laid that plan of life which I have 
steadily and successfully pursued. In 1752, the Society of 
Advocates chose me their librarian, — an office from which 
I received little or no emolument, but which gave me the 



88 ENGLISH AND AMERICAN LITERATURE. 

command of a large library. I then formed the plan of 
writing the History of England, but, being frightened with 
the notion of continuing a narrative through a period of 
seventeen hundred years, I commenced with the accession 
of the House of Stuart, — an epoch when I thought the 
misrepresentations of faction began chiefly to take place. 
... I was assailed by one cry of reproach, disapprobation, 
and even detestation: English, Scotch, and Irish, Whig 
and Tory, churchman and sectary, freethinker and reli- 
gionist, patriot and courtier, — united in their rage against 
the man who had presumed to shed a generous tear for the 
fate of Charles I. and the Earl of Strafford. . '. . In 1756, 
two years after the fall of the first volume, was published 
the second, the volume of my history containing the period 
from the death of Charles I. till the Revolution. This 
performance happened to give less displeasure to the Whigs, 
and was better received." 

Hume's reputation rests upon his History of England, 
although he holds a recognized position as a political 
economist and as a mental philosopher. As a historian, 
he was the first English author who attempted to write 
history from the standpoint of cause and effect ; to replace 
the chronicles and the moral and political narratives which 
had previously been called history by an attempt to account 
for each present period by the influence at work in periods 
preceding. It is evident that the need of any generation 
is a knowledge of the philosophy of its history rather than 
of those details which owe their whole significance to their 
bearing upon the resultant situation : hence it can* readily 
be seen that to Hume we owe the beginning of history, 
properly so called. Hume covers the period from the 
invasion of Caesar, 55 B. C, to the close of the reign of 



FIFTH ERA : FROM JOHNSON TO COWPER. 89 

James the Second. From his carelessness as to facts, he is 
untrustworthy ; but the perfection of his style is such as 
to maintain his place as a classic, and to force other histo- 
rians to correct his misstatements while they retain his 
phraseology. As a writer of philosophic history, Hume is 
subject to question as to the truth of his philosophy, and 
it is in this direction that he is most open to criticism. 
Apart from his history, Hume's philosophy finds its expres- 
sion in his " Essays, Moral and Metaphysical," in his 
" Treatise of Human Nature," in " An Enquiry concerning 
the Principles of Morals," and in " The Natural History of 
Religion." The peculiarity of Hume's Philosophy is the 
identification of all perceptions with impressions or ideas 
(as these are more or less forcible). Experience is the 
source from which he derives all perceptions, and the moral 
principle he resolves into pleasure and pain. The accuracy 
of Hume has been severely attacked; but his charming 
style, his profound sagacity, and philosophical reflections 
clothe his great work with irresistible attractions. Alison 
says of him, " He was far too indolent to acquire the vast 
store of facts indispensable for correct generalization on the 
varied theatre of human affairs, and often drew hasty and 
incorrect conclusions from the events which particularly 
came under his observation." In philosophy Hume was a 
skeptic ; while wholly negative in his conclusions, his clear 
presentations of his views gave a great impulse to other 
minds, notably to Kant in Germany and to Reid in England. 

REFERENCES FOR THE STUDENT. 

Alison: Essays. 

Bagehot : Literary Studies. 

Bascom : Philosophy of English Literature. 



90 ENGLISH AND AMERICAN LITERATURE. 

Brougham : Life of Hume. 

Dallas : The Gay Science. 

Forster : Critical Essays. 

Hallam : Constitutional History of England. 

Hume : Literature of Europe ; Autobiography. 

Johnston's Encyclopaedia. 

Lippincott's Biographical Dictionary. 

Macaulay : History of England. 

Morley : English Men of Letters Series. 

Sainte-Beuve : English Portraits. 

Schlegel : History of Literature. 

Schlosser : History of the Eighteenth Century. 

Smyth : Lectures on Modern History. 

Gray. 

Thomas Gray was born in 1716, in Cornhill, London, 
and died in 1771, at the age of fifty-five. His father was a 
"money-scrivener," and is described as a man of violent 
passions and brutal manners. To his mother he owed an 
education at Eton, and subsequently at Cambridge. He 
received an invitation from Horace Walpole (a fellow- 
student) to travel with him, and in 1739 left for Italy. 
Two years later these friends quarrelled, and Gray returned 
to London, and took his degree of "Bachelor of Civil 
Laws." His father dying about this time, Gray settled at 
Cambridge, and devoted his time to miscellaneous reading. 
In 1768 he was appointed professor of modern history, but 
did most of his work by proxy. Gray was a man of " warm 
friendships," " embarrassing sensitiveness," a dreamer who 
planned magnificent works, and allowed them to perish 
with the dream. 

Gray's poems are few; and those most admired are 
entitled " Ode on a Distant Prospect of Eton College," 
"Hymn to Adversity," "The Progress of Poesy," "The 
Bard," and "Elegy written in a Country Churchyard." In 



FIFTH ERA: FROM JOHNSON TO COWPER. 91 

addition to his poems, Gray's letters are literary productions 
distinguished by humor, elegance, and classical taste ; by an 
alternate mixture of serious argument, animated description, 
just criticism, and playful expression. Gray is a master poet, 
not in virtue of his creative powers, but because of his unri- 
valled felicity in the expression of thoughts and sentiments, 
the result of his extensive study of classical literature. 
While Gray's own interests were those of the scholar, his 
poems give expression to sentiments common to mankind ; 
they thus obtain the suffrage alike of the cultivated and of 
the unlearned, and represent what was then a new school 
of poetry — the poetry of ordinary life. The only tests to 
which they yield a large response, are the rhetorical and 
aesthetic ; the sentiments are popular rather than just. 

Gray had the most poetical organization of his time. In 
variety of versification and smoothness of flow, no poet of 
his era approached him except Collins. The Elegy is per- 
vaded by a solemnity of rhythm singularly appropriate ; and 
the harmonies of his odes attest the fineness of his ear, and 
that security of daring which only genius possesses. 

REFERENCES FOR THE STUDENT. 
Aldine Poets. 
Campbell : British Poets. 
Drake : Literary Hours. 
Hales : Longer English Poems. 
Hallam : Literature of Europe. 
Howitt : Homes of British Poets. 
Johnson : English Poets. 
Mason : Life of Gray. 
Matthias : Writings and Character of Gray. 
Mitford : Life of Gray. 
Morley : English Men of Letters Series. 
Rolfe W. J. : English Classics. 
Roscoe: Essays. 



92 ENGLISH AND AMERICAN LITERATURE. 



Robertson. 

"William Robertson was born at Borthwick, Scotland, 
in 1721, and was the son of a minister. He enjoyed the 
best educational advantages, entered Edinburgh University 
when twelve years of age, and during his collegiate course, 
distinguished himself by the extent of his studies, and by 
the intensity of his application. In 1741, he was ordained 
as a minister, and was occupied for the next twenty-one 
years in the discharge of the duties of his office. In 
1760, he was elected principal of the University of Edin- 
burgh, a position which he held until his death in 1793. 
Of his personal life, Lord Brougham says : " His private 
habits were dignified and pure ; he was rationally pious, 
and blamelessly moral. His affections were warm, but 
they were ever under control, and therefore equal and 
steady. Vast information, copious anecdote, perfect 
appositeness of illustration, narration, or description wholly 
free from pedantry or stiffness, but as felicitous and as 
striking as might be expected from such a master ; great 
liveliness, and often wit, and often humor, with a full dis- 
position to enjoy the merriment of the hour ; but in the 
most scrupulous absence of anything like coarseness of any 
description — these formed the staples of his talk. His 
very decided opinions on all subjects of public interest, 
civil and religious, never interrupted his friendly and 
familiar intercourse with those who held different princi- 
ples." "His style is a full, equable strain, that rolls every- 
where the same, without lapsing into irregularity, or 
overflowing its prescribed course. It wants spirit and 
variety ; of grandeur or dignity there is no deficiency, and 
when the subject awakens a train of lofty or philosophical 



FIFTH ERA : FROM JOHNSON TO COWPER. 93 

ideas, the manner of the historian is in fine accordance 
with this matter. When he sums up the character of a 
sovereign, or traces the progress of society, and the influ- 
ence of laws and government, we recognize the mind and 
language of a master in historical composition. The artifi- 
cial graces of his style are also finely displayed in scenes of 
tenderness and pathos, or in picturesque description. His 
account of the beauty and sufferings of Mary, or of the 
voyage of Columbus when the first glimpses of the New 
World broke upon the adventurers, possesses almost 
enough of imagination to rank it with poetry." 

Robertson's works consist of sermons (said by Dugald 
Stewart to be the best models of pulpit eloquence), "A 
History of Scotland during the reigns of Queen Mary and 
James the Sixth," with a review of Scotch history previous to 
that period, " The History of the Emperor Charles the Fifth 
of Germany," and a " History of America," (relating to the 
period preceding its colonization). 

Horace Walpole, in speaking of Robertson's histories, 
says they are, " what the world now allows to be the best 
modern histories. He wrote with as much seeming knowl- 
edge of men and courts, as if he had passed all his life 
in important embassies." 

REFERENCES FOR THE STUDENT. 

Bancroft: History of the United States. 
Brougham : Men of Letters. 
Gibbon : Autobiography. 

Hallam : Literature of Europe ; Middle Ages. 
Irving : Life of Columbus. 
Mackintosh : Life of Robertson. 
Marsh : English Language. 

Prescott : Conquest of Mexico ; Ferdinand and Isabella ; History 
of Charles V. ; Miscellanies ; Philip H. 



94 ENGLISH AND AMERICAN LITERATURE. 

Schlosser : History of the Eighteenth Century. 
Smyth : Lectures on Modern History. 
Stewart : Life of Robertson. 



Goldsmith. 

Oliver Goldsmith, though of English parentage, was 
born in Ireland in 1728, and lived in London till his death 
in 1774. His father was a clergyman, and it is said that 
Goldsmith's portrait of the Country Parson conveys an 
adequate idea of the father's character. Oliver Goldsmith 
was educated at the expense of an uncle, and in 1735 he 
entered Trinity College as a sizar. After leaving the 
university, he first studied for the ministry, but his unfitness 
becoming apparent, he became a tutor, then a student of 
law, then a student of medicine, and finally, a "hack- 
writer." In 1755, he visited the continent, supporting him- 
self by playing his flute for the entertainment of the 
country people. Having made the acquaintance of Dr. 
Johnson, he found in him a steadfast friend, whose approval 
secured him literary recognition. As Goldsmith wrote with 
facility and was guilty of the improvidence not uncommon 
among literary men of former times, he did any work which 
the publishers required, and hence the directions of his 
efforts are quite various. Two comedies, " She Stoops to 
Conquer" and "The Good-natured Man"; "The Vicar 
of Wakefield," a novel ; Histories of Greece, Rome, and of 
the Earth and Animated Nature ; and " The Citizen of 
the World," may represent his efforts in prose ; while the 
" Deserted Village " and " The Traveller " are beautiful 
descriptive poems with which all readers are familiar. 

" There is so much of genuine feeling," says E. T. 
Channing, " just thought, true description, and sound moral 



FIFTH ERA : FROM JOHNSON TO COWPER. 95 

distinction in these poems ; the language is so clear, the 
strain so liquid, the general style not quite magnificent, 
but of such an easy, natural elevation and dignity, that 
they glide into our affections and memory in youth, and 
are never displaced." 

Of the "Vicar of Wakefield," Scott declares, "The 
admirable ease and grace of the narrative, as well as the 
pleasing truth with which the principal characters are 
designed, make it one of the most delicious morsels of 
fictitious composition on which the human mind was ever 
employed." This same novel was the delight of the 
illustrious Goethe and his friends, and was the model on 
which some of Goethe's earlier stories were formed. 

ct His descriptions and sentiments have the pure zest of 
nature. He is refined without false delicacy, and correct 
without insipidity. . . . His poetry is not that of impet- 
uous, but of contemplative sensibility ; of a spirit breathing 
its regrets and recollections, in a tone that has no disso- 
nance with the calm of philosophical reflection." 

REFERENCES FOR THE STUDENT. 

De Quincey : Essays, 

Foster : Life and Times of Goldsmith. 

Giles, H. : Lectures and Essays. 

Goethe : Autobiography. 

Hazlitt: English Poets. 

Irving : Life of Goldsmith. 

Lippincott's Biographical Dictionary. 

Macaulay: Essays. 

Masson, D. : British Novelists. 

Morley : English Men of Literature. 

Rolfe, W. J. : English Classics. 

Scott: Lives of the Novelists. 

Thackeray : English Humorists. 

Whipple : Literature and Life. 



98 ENGLISH AND AMERICAN LITERATURE. 



Gibbon. 

Edward Gibbon was born 1737, and was descended 
from an ancient Kentish family. Both his grandfather and 
his father were known in political life — the latter as 
member of Parliament. Gibbon was educated first at 
Westminster School and then at Oxford, where he entered 
as gentleman commoner 1 in 1752. His description of him- 
self serves at once to explain the nature of his previous 
studies, and the reason of his short stay (fourteen months) 
at the university. " I brought with me to Oxford a stock 
of erudition that might have puzzled a doctor, and a 
degree of ignorance of which a schoolboy would have been 
ashamed." Upon leaving the university, he travelled in 
company with a tutor, and acquainted himself thoroughly 
with Latin, Greek, French, Jurisprudence, and Belles 
Lettres. In 1758, he returned to England and formed such 
social connections as stimulated and assisted his literary 
tasks. He acquainted himself with the works of Addison, 
Swift, Hume, and Robertson. In 1763, Gibbon again 
visited the continent, and made the acquaintance of men 
in Paris distinguished for literary ability. The next year 
he visited Rome, and the ruins of the Capitol suggested 
the subject of his great work, just as his desire to emulate 
Hume, had determined its character. From 1774 to 1782, 
Gibbon was a member of the House of Commons. In 1783 
he removed to Lausanne, where he passed his time in 
literary labors until his death in 1794. 

An essay in French upon the study of literature (1761) 

1 A young man of fortune, who at the University has special social 
distinctions and special privileges, in consideration of his larger tuition 
fees. 



FIFTH ERA: FROM JOHNSON TO COWPER. 97 

was Gibbon's first work, and gave him reputation in Paris. 
In 1776 (eighteen years after he had found his subject at 
Rome), he published the first volume of " The Decline and 
Fall of the Eoman Empire," the work upon which his 
fame now rests. As a history its value is impaired by his 
own skeptical philosophy, which led him to give prominence 
to the virtues and heroic deeds of the Pagans, [" possibly 
an inability to appreciate men really great, if Mahomet be 
excepted,"] and to pass over in silence the part played by 
the Christians. One whose knowledge was gained from 
Gibbon alone, would naturally suppose that the trials and 
fortitude of the early Christians were either mythical, or 
at best overestimated. In style, Gibbon is rhetorical, per- 
fecting the " ornate style " (introduced by Johnson) ; the 
roll and music of his sentences is very grand, but at length 
becomes monotonous and produces satiety. In immensity 
of research, variety and accuracy of knowledge, in philo- 
sophical discrimination, in ability to assimilate the thoughts 
and investigations of others, in skill and eloquence of 
representation, Gibbon yields place to none, On the 
other hand, he will not condescend to be plain ; he for- 
gets that it is the business of the historian to relate events 
as they happened. 

REFERENCES FOR THE STUDENT. 

Bagehot: Literary Studies. 

Brougham : Men of Letters and Science. 

Prescott : Miscellanies. 

Robinson, H. C. : Diary and Correspondence. 

Sainte-Beuve : English Portraits. 

Schlegel : History of Literature. 

Smyth : Lectures on Modern History. 



98 english and american literature. 

Chesterfield. 

Philip Stanhope, Earl of Chesterfield, was the son of 
the third Earl of Chesterfield, and was born in 1694. He 
was furnished with every advantage of education, gradu- 
ating from the University of Cambridge with an excellent 
reputation as a scholar. He began his active career with 
his election to the House of Commons, and selected as the 
object of his ambition, pre-eminence as a gentleman, a 
courtier, and a patron of literature ; but he made the mis- 
take of disregarding substance in his admiration of form. 
Chesterfield used a formal standard in testing the moral 
world, and found that his very successes ultimately de- 
stroyed his own happiness, and ruined the life of his son. 

To possess much knowledge of the worst part of the 
world, and little taste for anything of a more elevated char- 
acter, could be no less unfortunate to the Earl of Chester- 
field than it constantly proves to those who accept this view 
of worldly wisdom. In his own time, Chesterfield was so 
readily conceded the supremacy as a "man of the world" 
and a man of fashion, that his name has become a synonym 
for polished manners ; but while this was the basis of Ches- 
terfield's social success, he was distinguished in Parliament 
by his eloquence, for he could have no competitor in 
choice of imagery, taste, urbanity, and graceful irony. 
In the literary world, Chesterfield's claims rest upon his 
" Letters to his Son," a work to whose style no exception 
can be taken. The views of the author cause him to exag- 
gerate the claims of social culture, and, as a consequence, 
many of these letters are rendered positively hurtful by 
their low moral standard ; yet, as Chesterfield has had no 
superior in the philosophy of etiquette, a selection from 



FIFTH ERA : FROM JOHNSON TO COWPEE. 99 

these letters may improve the manners of the present 
generation, as it did those of several generations now 



REFERENCES FOR THE STUDENT. 

Mahon Edition : Life of Chesterfield. 
Maty : Life of Chesterfield. 
Oliphant : Reign of George IT. 
Sainte-Beuve : English Portraits. 



Thomson. 

James Thomson was born in Scotland in 1700, was 
educated at the University of Edinburgh, and began his 
literary career in 1726, when he published a poem called 
" Winter," which was later to form a part of his " Seasons." 
Three tragedies, and a poem on " Liberty," preceded what 
is generally considered his greatest work — " The Castle of 
Indolence." Thomas Campbell speaks of Thomson as 
" the author who first or chiefly reflected back to our minds 
a heightened and refined sensation of the delight which 
rural scenery affords us." Thomson is credited by Hazlitt 
with being " the best of descriptive poets." In regard to 
Thomson's style, the same writer remarks : " His blank 
verse is heavy and monotonous. The moral descriptions 
and reflections in i The Seasons ' are in an admirable 
spirit, and written with great force and fervor." "As a 
writer," says Samuel Johnson, "Thomson is entitled to 
one praise of the highest kind, his mode of thinking and 
expressing his thoughts is original." His nature was too 
indolent and unsympathetic to permit success in tragedy. 
His diction was florid and luxuriant. The " Castle of In- 



100 ENGLISH AND AMERICAN LITERATURE. 

dolence " is full of a sportive fancy and imagery ; but he 
is charged with speaking more to the ear than to the 
mind. 

REFERENCES FOR THE STUDENT. 

Hazlitt : English Poets. 

Howitt: Homes of British Poets. 

Hows : Golden Leaves from the Dramatic Poets. 

Jeffrey: Essays. 

Johnson: Lives of the English Poets. 

Marsh : English Language. 

Sterne. 

Lawrence Sterne was born in Ireland (1713), but re- 
ceived his education at the University of Cambridge. His 
profession was the ministry, and his influential connections 
secured for him positions of importance and prominence. 
His private character was that of a self-indulgent man, 
who found greater satisfaction in fashionable society than 
in the humbler duties of his calling. In 1761 he published 
" Tristram Shandy," and in 1768 " The Sentimental Jour- 
ney." Sterne is credited by Chambers with being witty, 
pathetic, and sentimental ; original, though a plagiarist of 
thoughts and illustration. Lacking in simplicity and de- 
cency, the secret of Sterne's power, Coleridge maintains, 
lies in "seizing and bringing forward those points on 
which every man is a humorist, and in the masterly manner 
in which he has brought out the characteristics of beings of 
the most opposite natures : for example, the 4 Elder Shandy ' 
and ' Uncle Toby.' " " Quaintness of thought, description 
of character through its minor characteristics, humor, and 
pathos," are perhaps the most marked characteristics of 
Sterne. 



FIFTH ERA: FROM JOHNSON TO COWPER. 101 



REFERENCES FOR THE STUDENT. 

Allibone : Dictionary of Authors. 

Bagehot : Literary Studies. 

Ferriar : Illustrations of Sterne. 

Fitzgerald : Life of Sterne. 

Forsyth: British Novelists. 

Hazlitt : English Comic Writers. 

Masson, D. : British Novelists. 

Medaille : Letters of Sterne. 

Personal Reminiscences of Moore and Jerdan. 

Scott : Lives of the Novelists. 

Taine : English Literature. 

Thackeray : English Humorists. 



Burke. 

Edmund Burke (1728-1797) was the son of a wealthy 
Dublin attorney, who gave him the advantage of the best 
schools, and subsequently sent him to Trinity College. 
Four years later, at the age of seventeen, we find Burke 
studying law, success as a lawyer being his strongest 
youthful ambition. He was distinguished while a boy for 
devoted application to the acquisition of knowledge, and 
remarkable powers of comprehension and retention ; he 
was a careful student of Spenser, Milton, Shakespeare, 
and Young, and had a profound acquaintance with general 
history. As a man, he united splendid and versatile 
talents with an utterly unblemished political and personal 
character. 

Burke's first literary work, written in imitation of Bol- 
ingbroke's style, was called " The Vindication of Natural 
Society," in which the effort of Burke was to show that 
religion, as well as all beneficial institutions, is not weak- 



102 ENGLISH AND AMERICAN LITERATURE. 

ened in authority by any abuse on the part of its profes- 
sors. This was followed by his " Essay on the Sublime 
and Beautiful," a philosophic analysis of these qualities. 
But Burke's life and interests were those of a statesman, 
and hence his greatest work consists of his efforts as an 
orator, and of essays upon political subjects (for example, 
" Reflections upon the French Revolution "). Burke has 
been adjudged, by the almost unanimous verdict of his 
own and subsequent times, the greatest of English orators. 
His political works have the value which naturally belongs 
to an intellect the most profound, cultivated by thought, 
study, reading, association with the best and greatest of his 
times, and by a life passed in the discharge of public 
duties at a period during which great historical events were 
occurring. Mackintosh says of Burke : " Shakespeare and 
Burke are, if I may venture on the expression, above 
talent. Burke was one of the first thinkers, as well as one 
of the first orators, of his time. He is without parallel in 
any age or country, except perhaps Lord Bacon or Cicero, 
and his works contain an ampler store of political and 
moral wisdom than can be found in any other writer 
whatever." Dr. Johnson regards Burke's "Essay on the 
Sublime and Beautiful " as an example of true criticism. 
His earlier style was simple and unadorned ; his later 
enriched by tropical luxuriance of imagery. 

REFERENCES FOR THE STUDENT. 

Brougham : English Statesmen. 
Buckle : History of Civilization. 
Cleveland, CD.: English Literature. 
Craik : English Language and Literature. 
Croly : Historical Sketches. 
Edinburgh Review, Vol. 46. 



FIFTH ERA : FROM JOHNSON TO COWPER. 103 

Gibbon : Autobiography. 

Harvey : Lectures Literary and Biographical. 

Hazlitt : Table Talk. 

Macaulay : Essays. 

MacKnight : Life and Times of Burke. 

Minto : English Prose Literature. 

Morley, J. : Burke, a study ; English Men of Letters Series. 

Prior : Life of Burke. 

Rogers : Recollections. 

TOPICAL RfiSUMft. 
(chapter VI.) 

The Fifth Era — dates and authors marking its limits. 

Events in the history of language and literature. 
• Events personal and literary in the career of the contemporaries 
and successors of Johnson. 

Dates and memorabilia in connection with the names of Chatterton, 
Collins, Garrick, Gay, poets ; Boswell, Junius, Montagu, More, 
Percy, Richardson, Russell, Sheridan, Walpole, writers in prose. 

Merits, services, and characteristics of Johnson, of Burke, of 
Sterne, of Thomson, of Fielding, of Hume, of Gray, of Robertson, 
of Goldsmith, of Gibbon, of Chesterfield. 



CHAPTER VII. 

SIXTH EEA: FROM COWPER TO THE PRESENT TIME. 

(1781-1888.) 

Most of the writers of the previous era are so familiar 
to readers that they hardly seem to have lived in a time so 
far past. The close of the eighteenth century, and the first 
three quarters of the nineteenth, have witnessed an out- 
burst to which no other period, except that of Shakespeare, 
is at all comparable. This era resembles the Elizabethan 
(1) in the possession of a host of men and women of un- 
usual natural powers ; (2) in the many directions of liter- 
ary effort ; (3) in the aspiration for completeness ; and (4) 
in the fact that the causes exciting to mental activity have 
been many and constant. The French Revolution, the 
struggle for American Independence, the widely felt inter- 
est in social problems, the diffusion of knowledge, and the 
accessibility of the results attained by students, have taken 
the place as external causes of the influences felt in the time 
of Queen Elizabeth ; while the discoveries and improve- 
ments of science, and the pursuit of art, have been at once 
causes and effects. Beginning their work in full possession 
of a cultivated language, well-organized literary forms, and 
the immense resources of so many generations of students, 
the writers of this period have had but to perfect forms 
already existing, and to present yet more effectively such 
elements of universal truth as are most important for their 

104 



SIXTH ERA : FROM COWPER TO PRESENT TIME. 105 

own period, It has been possible for authors, not to write 
better, but to choose themes which might be more accept- 
able to those of their own time, partly because of their 
nearness to present interests, and partly because as the 
laborers have become more numerous, our common knowl- 
edge has become riper. 

Among writers not elsewhere mentioned, of whom 
it is proper here to speak, are the following : Mrs. Felicia 
Hemans (1815) and Samuel Rogers (1786), poets of the 
affections, are notable for command of poetical resources, 
and, in the case of the latter, for high rhetorical finish. 
James Montgomery (1806), a voluminous writer, devoted 
his efforts to educational or religious themes in poetry 
and prose. The Rev. Charles Wolfe (1795-1823) had the 
good fortune to write a poem which has become a perma- 
nent part of literature, " Burial of Sir John Moore." Of 
historians we may mention Henry T. Buckle (1858), whose 
work on the " History of Civilization " is perhaps declining 
in authority ; Sir James Mackintosh (1788), who is 
equally notable for his contributions to the Edinburgh 
Review, and his work on " Ethics " ; and Sharon Turner 
(1799) and Sir Francis Palgrave (1831), whose works on 
" The Anglo-Saxon Period of English History " have 
received deserved praise. John G. Lockhart (1824) has 
published admirable translations from the Spanish, and a 
life of his father-in-law, Sir Walter Scott. Of essayists and 
contributors to the magazines or reviews, we shall recall 
John Wilson (Christopher North) (1811), brilliant, elo- 
quent, full of enthusiasm, a great writer ; Talfourd (1835), 
author of a classical drama^ " Ion," a refined critic, but 
somewhat dominated by the fluency with which he wrote ; 
Lord Henry Brougham (1803), a sort of universal genius, 



106 ENGLISH AND AMERICAN LITERATURE. 

orator, writer on natural science, metaphysics, biography ; 
and Sydney Smith (1800), said by Macaulay to be the 
greatest wit since the days of Dean Swift. William F. 
Bussell (1851) elevated newspaper correspondence to the 
dignity of literature. Charles Reade (1852) was success- 
ful as a novelist and dramatizer. Douglas Jerrold (1821) 
enlivened the pages of " Punch " with his fine wit and 
charming humor. 

German Influence. 

The translations of Scott directed English eyes to 
Germany. There followed a host of translators, but, as 
might have been anticipated, the works selected were hardly 
of a character to represent Germany fairly. The plays 
of Kotzebue, a third-rate dramatizer, and innumerable 
wretched romances, with mistranslations of the great meta- 
physician Kant, only served to prejudice the English 
mind against the new-comer. But with Coleridge's mag- 
nificent reproduction of the poet Schiller's " Wallenstein," 
and his acknowledged indebtedness to German thinkers 
for some of his most important tenets, the tide turned, and 
it needed only the vehement allegiance of Carlyle to his 
German master to cause this profound and varied literature 
to be studied as it deserved. 

Schools of Poetry. 

The difficulty in grouping poetical efforts under the 
heading "Schools of Poetry" arises from the constantly 
shifting points of resemblance between authors who are to 
be masters and not disciples. Still, as the term school 
is so constantly used by critics of literature much con- 
fusion may be saved by a short statement of the peculiari- 



SIXTH ERA I FROM COWPER TO PRESENT TIME. 107 

ties of the several groups. (1) Dryden and Pope limited 
their definition of poetry to skilful versification: hence 
those who belong to the " school of Pope" attract us by 
qualities not at all peculiar to poetry. (2) Poets differ in 
their styles as they incline to the simplicity and sentential 
imagery of Wordsworth and Campbell, or as they prefer 
the luxuriance and verbal imagery of Shelley and Keats, 
or as they give us Tennyson's skilful union of the two. 
(3) Poets vary in their themes ; and the moralist will be 
specially sensitive to exhibitions of moral beauty and of 
moral ugliness ; the lover of scenery, to the various combina- 
tions of landscapes ; and the student of human character, to 
all situations which exhibit men in action. (4) Poets may 
be distinguished by their prevailing mode, — as humor, 
satire, criticism, speculation, sentiment, love of fine expres- 
sion, and care in testing the truth of all statements. (5) 
They may be regarded as creating epic, lyric, or dramatic 
poems: (6) as reflective, didactic, descriptive, analytical, 
or narrative in their styles; (7) as using the forms of 
allegory, the ballad, the song. 

Fiction. 

Fiction is the general term which includes all products 
of the imagination. The object of all classification is to 
assist the intellect by keeping together such topics as 
admit of a common treatment ; hence the limits to the use- 
fulness of any classification. Poetry is so important and 
so great in extent that it constitutes of itself a domain 
requiring sub-classes. Prose fiction, likewise, is conven- 
iently separable into several classes, of which the most 
important for our purposes are (1) the Romance, (2) the 
Story, (3) the Novel. These three agree in being fictitious. 



108 ENGLISH AND AMERICAN LITERATURE. 

The Romance, however, deals with the supernatural. The 
Story is unlimited as to theme, but is entirely subjective in 
form ; while the Novel deals with human life, and presents 
the actual in distinction from the real or the ideal. The 
novel, at least, as we recognize it in English, is, therefore, 
that species of fiction which represents actual human life 
in story form : it is the prose drama in essence, while in 
form it is relieved from that strict continuity of action 
requisite in the drama. A successful novel must, there- 
fore, stand criticism with reference (1) to plot, (2) to char- 
acterization, (3) to dialogue, (4) to just sentiments, (5) to 
thoughtful philosophy, (6) to the subordination of imagi- 
nation to dramatic effect, (7) to action and not narration. 
By actual life is meant " John as he is," and not " John 
as he appears to his Maker," or " John as he appears to the 
author." If the novelist succeeds in presenting people as 
they are, by giving us only those traits which are perma- 
nent, then all readers recognize the characters with the 
same variations of judgment which distinguish them in 
ordinary life. George Eliot is strong in characterization, 
unless one objects to her analysis as too subtle and too 
exhaustive, and as thus leaving no room for the reader. 
She is, however, very inartistic in her plots, and her nar- 
ration does not move with sufficient rapidity. Her books 
will, therefore, be read for their wisdom, and for the happi- 
ness of the sayings which they contain, rather than for the 
interest of the story. 

COWPER. 

William Cowper, the son of a minister, and descended 
from a family which had long been distinguished, was 
born in 1731. As a boy, he was timid and sensitive, so 



SIXTH ERA : FROM COWPER TO PRESENT TIME. 109 

that Ms whole school life was a torment. He studied law, 
but did not enter upon the practice of his profession. In 
addition to his natural timidity, Cowper was at different 
times affected with insanity, and his life was colored by 
self-distrust and gloomy views of religion. The family of 
the Unwins has become celebrated among readers, because 
with them Cowper passed most of his life. Cowper began 
his career as an author when more than fifty years of age, 
and before his death (1800), he had published, besides 
" The Task," " John Gilpin " and a translation of Homer, 
together with minor poems. 

In the previous era, poetry had returned to more nat- 
ural themes, but had still retained its preference for sub- 
jects and modes of expression unsuited to ordinary minds. 
Cowper founded a new school of poetry, and his influence 
has been felt even by those whose manner would seem to be 
different. Cowper's theory of poetry contained two essential 
doctrines : (1) that poetry should select themes within the 
interests of ordinary life, and (2) that its language should 
be that of ordinary, simple speech. Even Cowper's power 
has not always prevented his falling into prosaic plainness. 

Francis Jeffrey says : " He took a wide range in lan- 
guage and in matter ; and shaking off the tawdry incum- 
brance of that poetical diction which had nearly reduced the 
art to the skilful collocation of a set of appointed phrases, 
he made no scruple to set down in verse every expression 
that would have been admitted in prose, and to take advan- 
tage of all the varieties with which our language could 
supply him." He failed, however, in making clear to him- 
self the distinction between the prosaic and the poetical. 
His translation of Homer cannot be regarded as successful. 
His letters are models of simple epistolary style. 



110 ENGLISH AND AMERICAN LITERATURE. 



REFERENCES FOR THE STUDENT. 

Adams : Dictionary of Literature. 

Allibone : Dictionary of Authors. 

Bagehot: Literary Studies. 

Browning, Mrs. : Cowper's Grave. 

Campbell : British Poets. 

Cheever, G. B. : Lectures on Cowper. 

Cowper: Letters. 

Cunningham : Biographical and Critical History of the Last Fifty 

Years. 
Hayley : Life of Cowper. 
Hazlitt : English Poets. 
Jeffrey: Essays. 

Morley. J : English Men of Letter Series. 
Sainte-Beuve : English Portraits. 
Southey : Life of Cowper. 
Thomson : Celebrated Friendships. 



Burns. 

Robert Burns (1759-1796) was the son of a small 
farmer who gave him such advantages as were offered by 
a country school ; these Burns supplemented by a limited 
acquaintance with Latin and French. As a child, he was 
an insatiable reader, and necessarily used a miscellaneous 
library. When sixteen, he composed his first verses, and 
gained a local reputation as a poet. Later, this led to his 
visiting Edinburgh, from which visit resulted his appoint- 
ment as exciseman. This appointment confirmed habits of 
intemperance, engendered by his social intercourse in the 
Scottish capital. 

Burns's poetry consists mainly of songs. His two most 
ambitious pieces are " Tarn O' Shanter " and " The Cotter's 
Saturday Night." Of his best known and most acceptable 



SIXTH ERA : FROM COWPER TO PRESENT TIME. Ill 

poems, we may select "Lines to a Mountain Daisy," 
" Lines to a Mouse," " Bannockburn," " John Anderson," 
" To Mary in Heaven," and " The Jolly Beggars." 

Burns is pre-eminently a national poet, and is especially 
dear to Scotchmen all the world over. " Burns and Moore 
stand side by side as the lyric poets of two kindred 
nations. But the works of the latter, polished and sur- 
passingly sweet as they are, have something of the draw- 
ing-room sheen about them, which does not find its way to 
the heart so readily as the simple grace of the unconven- 
tional Ayrshire peasant. The muse of the Irish lawyer is 
crowned with a circlet of shining gems ; the muse of the 
Scottish peasant wears a garland of sweet field-flowers." 
— W. F. Collier. 

Burns is one of the great lyric poets of all times. He 
possesses great force of conception, and great animation of 
language and expression. His poems are mainly the 
unpremeditated effusions of momentary impulse ; they 
cover a wide range of those feelings and aspirations com- 
mon to humanity, and while he made no essays in the 
highest realms of his art, his sincerity, his insight, his 
power of expression give him a leading rank in the long 
line of British poets. 

REFERENCES FOR THE STUDENT. 

Adams : Dictionary of Literature. 
Campbell : British poets. 
Carlyle : Essays. 

Chambers : Life and Works of Burns. 

Cunningham : Biographical and Critical History of the Last Fifty 
Years. 

Giles, H. : Illustrations of Genius. 
Halleck : Lines on Burns. 



112 ENGLISH AND AMERICAN LITERATURE, 

Hazlitt : English Poets. 

Howitt : Homes of the British Poets. 

Jeffrey : Miscellanies. 

Lippincott's Biographical Dictionary. 

Lowell : Poems. 

Macaulay: Essays. 

Morley : English Men of Letters Series. 

Scherr : History of English Literature. 

Smith: Edition. 

Whittier: Poems. 

Wilson: Genius and Character of Burns. 



Wordsworth. 

"William Wordsworth, the son of an attorney, was born 
at Cockermouth, in 1770. While yet a child, he lost his 
father and mother ; his education, which extended through 
a university course at Cambridge, was provided by his 
uncle. During his early life he found his interests in 
studying Italian, in making tours throughout the country, 
and in composition ; his first publication was in 1793. A 
legacy of nine hundred pounds allowed him to direct his 
life into such channels as his taste dictated. 

The young student should begin his acquaintance with 
Wordsworth with the minor poems : when thus satisfied of 
the excellences of the poet, he will be encouraged to study 
" The Excursion." We select as representative poems, the 
" Ode on Immortality," (at once a remarkably beautiful poem 
and one characteristic of Wordsworth's excellences), " The 
Skylark," "Liberty," "Laodamia," "Tintern Abbey," Son- 
nets, and " The Excursion." Wilson thus describes Words- 
worth's claims and services : " Wordsworth's genius has had 
a greater influence on the spirit of poetry in Britain than 
was ever before exercised by any individual mind. He 



SIXTH ERA: FROM COWPER TO PRESENT TIME. 113 

was the first man*who impregnated all his descriptions of 
external nature with sentiment and passion ; — he was the 
first man who vindicated the dignity of human nature by 
showing that all its elementary feelings were capable of 
poetry; — he was the first man that stripped thought and 
passion of all vain or foolish disguises, and showed them in 
their just proportions and unencumbered power ; — he was 
the first man who in poetry knew the real province of 
language, and suffered it not to veil the meanings of the 
spirit : in all these things, and in many more, Wordsworth 
is indisputably the most original poet of the age ; and it is 
impossible, in the very nature of things, that he can ever 
be eclipsed." The theory of poetry, as held by Cowper, 
and as illustrated by Goldsmith, was modified by Words- 
worth, and forms a distinct school. It is stated by Dr. 
Channing as follows : " The great truth which pervades Ms 
poetry is that the beautiful is not confined to the rare, the 
new, the distant, to scenery and to modes of life open only 
to the few, but that . . . the domestic relations can quietly 
nourish that disinterestedness which is the element of all 
greatness, and without which intellectual power is a splen- 
did deformity." 

In style and versification, Wordsworth is one of the 
most unequal of writers. He was misled by his theory 
that the simplest themes and most prosaic language were 
suitable to poetry. In consequence, some of his poems are 
set to melodies strangely monotonous and tuneless; in 
others, he attains a dignity and a harmony not surpassed by 
any poet of his time. The student may compare the jog- 
trot movement and barren manner of the " Idiot Boy" 
with the superb flow and stately diction of " Laodamia." 
He is, perhaps, deficient in pathos, reaching his greatest 



114 ENGLISH AND AMERICAN LITERATURE. 

height in those poems or passages in which he delineates 
the moral ideal of humanity. 

Coleridge thus criticises Wordsworth's poetry : " An 
author of purity of language, both grammatically and 
logically ; in short, a perfect appropriateness of the words 
to the meaning. Sinewy strength and originality of single 
lines and paragraphs; the frequent curio sa f elicit as 1 of his 
diction. 

"The gift of imagination in the highest and strictest 
sense of the word. . . He does, indeed, to all thoughts and 

to all objects, 

1 add the gleam, - 
The light that never was on sea or land, 
The consecration and the poet's dream.' 

" A corresponding weight and sanity of the thoughts and 
sentiments won not from books, but from the poet's own 
meditation. ... -A meditative pathos, a union of deep and 
subtle thought with sensibility ; a sympathy with man as 
man, the sympathy indeed of a contemplator rather than a 
fellow-sufferer and co-mate, . . . but of a contemplator 
from whose view no difference of rank conceals the same- 
ness of the nature, no injuries of wind, or weather, or toil, or 
even of ignorance, wholly disguise the human face divine." 

Wordsworth's defects are (1) " Choice of subjects such 
as the popular mind cannot sympathize in." (Scott. ,) (2) 
"He cannot form a whole. . . . He lacks the construc- 
tive faculty ". QHazlitt.~) (3) " Occasionally becomes too 
minute in his delineations, and some of the subjects are too 
homely for inspiration". (Cunningham.) (4) His interest 
was too exclusively confined to contemplative morals to 
excite enthusiasm on the part of superficial readers. 
1 Rare felicity. 



SIXTH ERA : FROM COWPER TO PRESENT TIME. 115 



REFERENCES FOR THE STUDENT, 

Bagehot: Literary Studies. 
Bascom : Philosophy of English Literature. 
Brandes : Literature of the Nineteenth Century. 
Browning, Mrs. : Book of the Poets. 
Cleveland, CD.: Literature of the Nineteenth Century. 
Coleridge : Biographia Literaria. 

Cunningham : Biographical and Critical History of the Last Fifty 
Years. 

Dowden : Studies in Literature. 

Fields, J. T. : Yesterdays with Authors. 

George ; Wordsworth's Prelude (preface) . 

Hazlitt : English Poets. 

Jerdan : Men I have Known. 

Masson : Wordsworth, Shelley, Keats, and other Essays. 

Morley, J. : English Men of Letters Series. 

H. : Literature of the Age of Victoria. 
Phillips : English Literature. 
Reed : Henry : Lectures on English Literature. 
Robinson, H. C. : Diary and Correspondence. 
Rossetti : Shelley's Life and Writings. 
Shairp : Studies in Poetry and Philosophy. 
Whipple : Literature and Life. 

Coleridge. 

Samuel Taylor Coleridge was born in 1772, at Ottery 
St. Mary, of which, parish his father was vicar. He was 
educated mainly at Christ's Hospital, where he had Charles 
Lamb as a fellow pupil. He was an omnivorous reader, 
and even in early youth was remarkable for his erudi- 
tion. Before his fifteenth year, he had translated the 
" Hymns of Synesius." After the death of his father, he 
thought of apprenticing himself to a shoemaker, but Dr. 



116 ENGLISH AND AMERICAN LITERATURE. 

Bowyer, liead master of Christ's Hospital, interfered, and 
obtained for him a presentation, or scholarship, to Jesus 
College, Cambridge. Here he remained from 1791 to 1793, 
but left abruptly and without taking his degree, having 
become attached to the principles of the French Revolu- 
tion. In London he felt himself forlorn, and enlisted as a 
soldier, under an assumed name. A Latin inscription 
under his saddle led to his detection, and he was restored 
to his family. In 1794, he published " Juvenile Poems," 
and a drama, " The Fall of Robespierre.'" In conjunction 
with Southey, he proposed to emigrate to America, and 
establish an ideal community, or Pantisocracy. This 
scheme, of course, fell through. He now married, and 
resided for some time in Stowey, a village in Somerset- 
shire. It was here and at this time that some of his most 
beautiful poems were composed. In 1798, through the 
munificence of friends, he was enabled to visit Germany. 
On his return, he found subsistence by engaging in edito- 
rial work on the London Post. In 1804, he went to Malta, 
as secretary to the governor of the island. A disagreement 
with the governor led to his return, and he resumed litera- 
ture as a means of securing a livelihood. But his desul- 
tory and irregular habits frustrated all his endeavors. He 
contemplated the execution of great works, but the weak- 
ness of his will formed an insuperable obstacle to his 
success. He at length found a refuge in the house of a 
friend, Dr. James Gilman, at Highgate, where he passed 
the last nineteen years of his life. He died in 1834. He 
is thus described by Carlyle, in the " Life of John Ster- 
ling " : " Brow and head were round, and of massive weight, 
but the face was flabby and irresolute. The deep eyes, of 
a light hazel, were as full of sorrow as of inspiration ; con- 



SIXTH ERA : FROM COWPER TO PRESENT TIME. 117 

fused pain looked mildly from them, as in a kind of mild 
astonishment. The whole figure and air, otherwise good 
and amiable, might be called flabby and irresolute, expres- 
sive of weakness under possible strength. He hung 
loosely on his limbs, with knees bent, and stooping atti- 
tude ; in walking he rather shuffled than decidedly 
stepped ; and a lady once remarked he never could fix 
which side of the garden walk would suit Mm best, but 
, continually shifted in corkscrew fashion, and kept trying 
both. A heavy-laden, high-aspiring, and surely much- 
suffering man. His voice, naturally soft and good, had 
contracted itself into a plaintive snuffle and sing-song ; he 
spoke as if preaching — you would have said preaching 
earnestly and also hopelessly the weightiest things." 

Coleridge's work, both in prose and verse, was volumi- 
nous at the same time that it was fragmentary. The 
4 Ancient Mariner " and " Christabel ' r are the most popular 
of his poems, while his prose may be represented by his 
criticism upon Wordsworth's poetry, and by his Lectures 
on Shakespeare. 

Of Coleridge's style, George P. Marsh says: "In point 
thorough knowledge of the meaning, and constant and of 
scrupulous precision in the use of individual words, I sup- 
pose Coleridge surpasses all other English writers of what- 
ever period. His works are of great philological value, 
because they compel the reader to a minute study of his 
nomenclature, and a nice discrimination between words 
which he employs in allied but still distinct senses, and 
they contribute more powerfully than the works of any 
other English author to habituate the student to that close 
observation of the meaning of words which is essential to 
precision of thought and accuracy of speech. Few writers 



118 ENGLISH AND AMERICAN LITERATURE. 

so often refer to the etymology of words, as a means of 
ascertaining, defining, or illustrating their meaning, while, 
at the same time, mere etymology was not sufficiently a 
passion with Coleridge to be likely to mislead him." 
Though Coleridge is high authority with respect to the 
meaning of single words, his style is by no means an agree- 
able or even a scrupulously correct one in point of struc- 
ture or syntax. The versification of his poems is hardly 
surpassed by that of any poet. The music of " Chris- 
tabel " is forever sweet and varied. The fragment called 
" Kubla Khan " may be studied as a piece of most success- 
ful melody, and his " Ode to France," belonging to a 
species of composition dependent for success largely on 
the splendor of the harmonies, is characterized by Shelley 
as the finest ode in modern times. His metrical experi- 
ments are well worthy the student's attention. As a phil- 
osopher, he belongs to the transcendental, or idealistic, 
school ; and his works afford much light on the difficult 
books of Kant and Schelling. He is one of the greatest of 
England's critics. Capacious in intellect, and profoundly 
learned, he yet failed, through inherent defect of will, to 
accomplish the great work for which he was eminently 
fitted. As a conversationalist, he was beyond all his con- 
temporaries, and in his later years his conversations were 
attended by the young and aspiring, who hung upon the 
wisdom of the " old man eloquent." 

REFERENCES FOR THE STUDENT. 

Bascom : Philosophy of English Literature. 
Brandes : Literature of the Nineteenth Century. 
Browning, Mrs. : Book of the Poets. 
Calvert : Coleridge, Shelley, and Goethe. 



SIXTH ERA : FROM COWPER TO PRESENT TIME. 119 

Carlyle : Heroes and Hero- Worship. 

Dallas : The Gay Science. 

De Quincey : Reminiscences. 

Dowel en : Studies in Literature. 

Hazlitt: English Poets. 

Hows : Golden Leaves from the Dramatic Poets. 

Jerclan : Men I Have Known. 

Marsh : English Language. 

Eeecl : Lectures on English Literature. 

Rosetti : Shelley's Life and Writings. 

Scherr : History of English Literature. 

Whipple : Essays and Reviews. 

Scott. 

Sir Walter Scott was born in Edinburgh in 1771, and 
was the son of a well-known " Writer to the Signet." 1 
After finishing his course at the high-school, he passed a 
short time at the University of Edinburgh, after which he 
was apprenticed to his father, and when twenty-one was 
admitted to practice as a Scottish advocate. During his 
school-days, Scott was chiefly noticeable for his powers as 
a teller of stories; later in life, his reading took the 
direction indicated by his boyish tastes, and his literary 
success affords a marked example of the development of a 
taste into a lifelong pursuit. 

Few men have so lived that their personal biography 
is so instructive and stimulating as that of Sir Walter 
Scott. 

Few English writers have enjoyed a popularity so uni- 
versal and so widely extended, and if his works are now 
less generally read, this is the fate that befell Fielding — 
a greater than Scott — and which must, from the essential 

1 Highest rank of Scotch attorneys. 



120 ENGLISH AND AMERICAN LITERATURE. 

character of the novel, attend even the greatest masters, 
when the people require forms more consonant with those 
of their own lives. 

Sir Walter Scott began his literary career, by translations 
from the German (1796-1799), but soon appeared as a 
poet, stimulated by Bishop Percy's "Reliques" to a trial of 
the old ballad measure. Beginning with " The Lay of the 
Last Minstrel" (1808), Scott published "Marmion," "The 
Lady of the Lake," " The Vision of Don Roderick," 
"Rokeby," "The Bridal of Triermain," and "The Lord 
of the Isles," closing his poetical career in 1817 with 
" Harold the Dauntless." In 1814, Scott published anony- 
mously "Waverley," the first of those historical novels 
which were at once to create a new school, and to assure 
him the position of master therein. Of the twenty-nine 
" Waverley Novels," it must suffice to mention " The Heart 
of Mid-Lothian," " The Bride of Lammermoor," " Ivanhoe," 
and " Kenilworth." In addition to these poems and novels, 
Scott edited the works of Dryden, and of Swift, besides 
the works of less celebrated authors; published a "Life 
of Napoleon Bonaparte," and contributed voluminously to 
the reviews and magazines. 

According to Talfourd, " Of all men who have ever 
written, excepting Shakespeare, he has, perhaps, the least 
exclusiveness, the least of those feelings which keep men 
apart from their kind. He has his own predilections, and 
Ave love Mm the better for them, even when they are not 
ours; but they never prevent him from grasping with 
cordial spirit all that is human." His imagination is like 
that of the greatest of men, his scenes are wholly vivid, 
his personages living creatures. His style is open to the 
objection of being turgid and pompous. His poetry is 



SIXTH ERA : FROM COWPER TO PRESENT TIME. 121 

not equal in value to his prose ; while full of fire and of 
admirable descriptive passages, it yet lacks genuine inspira- 
tion, it has nothing of "that light which never was on 
sea or shore." That the gracefulness of Scott's songs and 
descriptions, and that the " fire and directness " of his 
verse may not be underestimated, we cite a criticism 
from George S. Hillard: "Style, energetic and condensed; 
pictures, glowing and faithful; characters and incidents, 
fresh and startling ; battle-scenes rival the pages of Homer." 

REFERENCES FOR THE STUDENT. 

Adams : Dictionary of Literature. 

Bascom : Philosophy of English Literature. 

Bulwer : Critical Writings. 

Carlyle : Essays, Westminster Review. 

Hazlitt: English Poets. 

Lippincott's Biographical Dictionary. 

Lockhart : Life of Scott. 

Macaulay : Essays. 

Martineau, Harriet : Miscellanies. 

Masson, D. : British Novelists. 

Morley : English Men of Letters Series. 

Prescott : Miscellanies. 

Rossetti : Shelley's Life and Writings. 

Ruskin : Modern Painters. 

Senior : Essays and Fiction. 

Shairp: " Good Words." 

Stephen : Hours in a Library. 

Whipple : Essays and Reviews. 

Byrok. 

George Gordon, Lord Byron, was born in 1788, and 
died at the early age of thirty-six. While yet a child, 
Byron was, through the death of his father, left to the care 



122 ENGLISH AND AMERICAN LITERATURE. 

of a mother, whose mistaken indulgence increased the 
natural passionateness of the boy. Through Byron's school 
and college life, he was specially noticeable for impatience 
under control, and wanton defiance of the rules of disci- 
pline, and his later life increased instead of modifying these 
elements of character. Byron was very handsome, and 
his beauty, added to his wealth, rank, and natural ability, 
made him the idol of the day. His eyes were light, and 
very expressive, his head remarkably small, forehead high, 
and set off by glossy dark-brown curls; his teeth were 
white and regular, nose thick, but handsome, complexion 
colorless, and hands white and small; in stature he was 
about five feet six and a half inches, and his sole physical 
imperfection was a lameness so slight as to be scarcely 
noticeable. 

"If the finest poetry be that which leaves the deepest 
impression on the minds of the readers, Lord Byron, we 
think, must be allowed to take precedence of all his dis- 
tinguished contemporaries. He has not the variety of 
Scott, nor the delicacy of Campbell, nor the absolute truth 
of Crabbe, nor the sparkling polish of Moore, but in force 
of diction and unextinguishable energy of sentiment, he 
clearly surpasses them all. Words that breathe and 
thoughts that burn are not merely the ornaments, but the 
common staple, of his poetry; and he is not inspired or 
impressive only in some happy passages, but through the 
whole body and tissue of his composition. ... He delights 
too exclusively in the delineation of a certain morbid 
exaltation of character and feeling. . . . He is haunted 
almost perpetually with the image of a being, feeding and 
fed upon by violent passions and the recollections of the 
catastrophes which they have occasioned. ... It is impos- 



SIXTH ERA: FROM COWPER TO PRESENT TIME. 123 

sible not to mourn oyer such a catastrophe of such a 
mind, or to see the prodigal gifts of nature, fortune, and 
fame thus turned to bitterness, without an oppressive feel- 
ing of impatience, mortification, and surprise." — Francis 
Jeffrey. , 

" Never had any writer so vast a command of the whole 
eloquence of scorn, misanthropy, and despair. . . . Never 
was there such variety in monotony as in that of Byron. 
From maniac laughter to piercing lamentation there was 
not a single note of human anguish of which he was not 
master. Year after year, and month after month, he con- 
tinued to repeat that to be wretched is the destiny of all ; 
that to be eminently wretched is the destiny of the emi- 
nent; that all the desires by which we are cursed lead 
alike to misery ; if they are not gratified, to the misery of 
disappointment; if they are gratified, to the misery of 
satiety. His principal heroes are^men who have arrived by 
different roads at the same goal of despair, who are sick of 
life, who are at war with society, who are supported in 
their anguish by an unquenchable pride, resembling that of 
Prometheus, or of Satan in the burning marl, who can 
master their agony by the force of their will, and who, to 
the last, defy the whole power of earth and heaven. There 
was created in the minds of many, (young admirers of 
Byron), a pernicious and absurd association between intel- 
lectual power and moral depravity. From the poetry of 
Lord Byron they drew up a system of ethics, compounded 
of misanthropy and voluptuousness ; a system in which 
the two great commandments were to hate your neighbor 
and to love your neighbor's wife." — T. B. Maeaulay. 

Byron was master of language and versification. Idi- 
omatic ease of language, lucid clearness, utter absence 



124 ENGLISH AND AMERICAN LITERATURE. 

of inversion, of affectation, and of obscurity, flexibility of 
verse, are qualities denied by none. The intensity of 
Byron's passion is, perhaps, the chief source of his power 
over the multitude. 

Byron's poems are many in number, but the following 
represent those which have the greatest claim upon the 
attention of the student : " Childe Harold's Pilgrim- 
age " (a result of travel in the East ; Canto I., Stanzas 
13, 35-43; III., 21-28, 67, 69-75; IV., 1-26, 78-98, 
140-141, 175-184). "The Giaour " (" He who hath bent 
him o'er the dead"). "Bride of Abydos " ("Know ye 
the land"). "The Corsair," II., 10. "Lara," II., 8. 
"The Siege of Corinth," St. 21-33. "The Prisoner of 
Chillon." "Manfred" (Act I., Scene 1., Song of the 
Spirits; Act III., Scene 4). "Mazreppa" IX., X., XL 
"Marino Faliero." "Don Juan" (II., 87; III., 86). 
"Darkness." "Maid of Athens." "The Vision of Bel- 
shazzar." " The Destruction of Sennacherib." ." Greek 
War Song." "Ode to Venice." "To Thomas Moore." 
"The Dream." Byron's reply to a severe review of his 
first published verses should be added to the works 
named; it was called "English Bards and Scotch Re- 
viewers." 

REFERENCES FOR THE STUDENT. 

Bascom : Philosophy of English Literature, 

Brydges : Character and Genius of Byron. 

Castelar : Life of Lord Byron. 

Elze : Lord Byron. 

Hallam: Literature of Europe. 

Hazlitt : English Poets. 

Howitt : Homes of the British Poets. 

Hows : Golden Leaves from the Dramatic Poets. 

Kingsley : New Miscellany. 



SIXTH ERA : FROM COWPER TO PRESENT TIME. 125 

Morley, J, : Critical Miscellanies ; English Men of Letters Series. 
Moore : Recollections of Lord Byron. 
Ward : English Poets. 
Whipple : Essays and Reviews. 

Shelley. 

Percy Bysshe Shelley was born in 1792, in Sussex, and 
was the eldest son of Sir Timothy Shelley, the representa- 
tive of a family which counted among its ancestors both 
Sidney and Sackville. His education was successively 
conducted at home, at Eton, 1 and at the University of 
Oxford. When but fifteen, Shelley had written two ro- 
mances, and, while these had in themselves no value, they 
seemed to show the direction in which his maturer efforts 
were to be displayed. In 1818, Shelley left England for 
the last time, and took up his residence in Italy, and in 
1822 was drowned in the bay of Spezzia, while indulging 
in his favorite amusement of. boating. Any full discussion 
of Shelley's poetry, and any extended consideration of 
Shelley's life are foreign to the objects sought by this book. 
Of Shelley as a private individual, Lord Byron says : " He 
was the most gentle, most amiable, and least worldly- 
minded person I ever met : full of delicacy, disinterested- 
ness beyond all other men, and possessing a degree of 
genius, joined to a simplicity as rare as it is admirable. 
He had formed to himself a beau-ideal of all that is fine, 
high-minded, and noble, and he acted up to this ideal even 
to the very letter. He had a most brilliant imagination, 
but a total want of worldly wisdom." This eulogium has 
never been qualified by those who reprehend Shelley's 
errors of life. 

Shelley died before reaching his prime, but Ms later 
1 A famous English school. 



126 ENGLISH AND AMERICAN LITERATURE. 

works show that as he grew older he tended towards the 
correction of the faults which marked his earlier produc- 
tions. Shelley's faults arose from the excess of qualities, 
good in themselves ; in forming Ms beau-ideal, he de- 
pended upon his own intellectual strength, and, like Mil- 
ton, violated the laws of social life. His intense hatred of 
tyranny and his earnest love of freedom, together with 
imperfect views of the orthodox religion, caused an essen- 
tially religious and moral nature to do itself injustice. 
But if, as Macaulay says, "the metaphysical and ethical 
theories of Shelley were absurd and pernicious," it is 
equally true as remarked by the same high authority, that 
" no modern poet has possessed in equal degree the highest 
qualities of the great ancient masters." 

Of Shelley's works we shall mention such only as show 
his genius without the introduction of his ethical theories. 
" The Skylark " is an ode which carols like the bird itself. 
" The Sensitive Plant " is an attractive specimen of meta- 
physical poetry, — a specimen which can be enjoyed either 
sensuously or through the intellect. " Alastor," one of the 
most characteristic of his poems, is a study of the problem 
of life, while the "Adonais, or Elegy on the death of 
Keats," contests, with Milton's "Lycidas," the merit of 
being the finest elegiac effort in the language. 

REFERENCES FOR THE STUDENT. 

Bascom : Philosophy of English Literature. 

De Quincey : Essays, 

Dowden : Studies in Literature ; Life of Shelley. 

Howitt : Homes of the British Poets. 

Hunt: Memoirs. 

McCarthy : Shelley's Early Life. 



SIXTH ERA : FROM COWPER TO PRESENT TIME. 127 

Macaulay: Essays. 

Masson, D. : Wordsworth, Shelley, Keats, and other Essays. 

Medwin : Life of Shelley. 

Morley : English Men of Letters Series. 

Shelley's Life and Writings. 

Scherr: History of English Literature. 

Smith : Shelley : A Critical Biography. 

Shelley Society Publications. 

Swinburne : Essays and Reviews. 

Keats. 

John Keats (1796-1821) was born in London. At fif- 
teen he was apprenticed to a surgeon; but after completing 
Lis studies, and passing his examinations, he deserted his 
profession for the service of poetry. In 1817, Keats pub- 
lished a volume of poems, followed the next year by what 
is now regarded as one of his most characteristic and beau- 
tiful poems, " Endymion." In the fall of 1820, he visited 
Rome for the improvement of his health, and died there 
in the following February. Keats's poetical efforts were at 
first received with the ridicule which has always awaited 
the founders of new schools. The effect upon Keats was 
to depress and dishearten, — in marked contrast to Byron, 
whom injustice roused to the fullest exhibition of his 
powers. Keats may be said to have founded the Scholar's 
School of Poetry ; a school which seeks its themes in the 
glories of Greek Mythology, and which, while in the pres- 
ent, is not of the present. Keats's poems form a volume 
small in size, but rich in the peculiar charms which consti- 
tute poetry regarded distinctively as poetry. " Endymion," 
" Lamia," " Isabella," " The Eve of St. Agnes," and " Hy- 
perion," are the longer poems ; while of the minor efforts 
the most popular are " Lines on Chapman's Homer," "Ode 



128 ENGLISH AND AMERICAN LITERATURE. 

to a Nightingale," " Ode to a Grecian Urn," " Ode to 
Psyche," and " Ode to Autumn." His severest critic, 
William Gilford, while saying that Keats's poems are " un- 
intelligible, rugged, diffuse, tiresome, absurd," admits that 
they show " power of language, rays of fancy, and gleams 
of genius." Those who enjoy his poetry will agree with 
Francis Jeffrey : " It [Endymion] is, in truth, at least as 
full of genius as of absurdity ; and he who does not find 
a great deal in it to admire and to give delight, cannot in 
heart find any great pleasure in some of the finest creations 
of Milton and Shakespeare. ... We are very much in- 
clined, indeed, to add, that we do not know any book which 
we would sooner employ as a test, to ascertain whether any 
one had in him a native relish for poetry and a genuine 
sensibility to its intrinsic charm." 

Keats is "richer in imagery than either Chaucer or 
Burns ; and there are passages in which no poet has arrived 
at the same excellence on the same ground. Time alone 
was wanting to complete a poet who already far surpassed 
all his contemporaries in this country, in the poet's most 
noble attributes." — W. S. Landor. 

He is a potent influence in the poetical literature of the 
present day. He is, perhaps, the greatest of English de- 
scriptive poets. Nature seems in him to have become her 
own poet and lyrist. 

REFERENCES FOR THE STUDENT. 

Brimley: Essays. 

Courthope : The Liberal movement in Literature. 
Cunningham : Biographical and Critical History of the Last Fifty 
Years. 



SIXTH ERA : FROM COWPER TO PRESENT TIME. 129 

Dallas : The Gay Science. 

De Quincey : Essays. 

Dowden : Studies in Literature. 

Howitt : Homes of the British Poets. 

Lowell, J. R. : Edition. 

Milnes : Life, Letters, and Remains of Keats. 

Rossetti: Shelley's Life and writings. 

Shelley: Adonais. 

Ste*dman : Victorian Poets. 



Hallam. 

Henry Hallam, one of the greatest of England's histo- 
rians, the son of the Dean of Wells, was born in 1778, and 
died in 1859, at the extreme age of eighty-one, having sur- 
vived both his sons, one of whom, Arthur Henry Hallam, 
was the intimate friend of Tennyson, and is the subject of 
his great poem "In Memoriam." The subject of this 
notice was educated at Eton and Christ Church, Oxford ; 
he was called to the bar at the Inner Temple, and received 
a government appointment which gave him leisure for the 
completion of his great work. He was an early contribu- 
tor to the Edinburgh Revieiv, but his place in literary his- 
tory is securely based on his three magnificent contributions 
to history : his " Constitutional History of England, from 
the Accession of Henry VIII. to the Death of George II.," 
his view of the " State of Europe during the Middle Ages," 
and his " Introduction to the Literature of Europe During 
the Fifteenth, Sixteenth, and Seventeenth Centuries." He 
possessed vast stores of information, a clear and independ- 
ent judgment. His style is grave and impressive, and 
occasionally enriched with imagery; his mind was emi- 
nently impartial and judicial, and he ranks high among the 
greatest of critics. 



130 ENGLISH AND AMERICAN LITERATURE. 

REFERENCES FOR THE STUDENT. 

Allibone : Dictionary of Authors. 

Jerdan : Men I Have Known. 

Macaulay: Essays. 

Martineau, Harriet : Biographical Sketches. 

Morley, H. : Literature of the Age of Victoria. 

Poole : Index to Periodical Literature. 

Macaulay. 

Thomas Babington Macaulay, the son of Zachary 
Macaulay, a Presbyterian divine, distinguished as a philan- 
thropist, was born in 1800, and died in 1859. While at 
Trinity College he was noticeable for his facility in acquir- 
ing knowledge, and the readiness with which he could 
summon up his resources. Macaulay gained three prizes 
during his collegiate course ; two for poems, " Pompeii " 
and " Evening," and one for attainments in the classics. 
His profession was that of law and politics ; and from 1830 
till 1856, he was a member of Parliament, an officer under 
the government, or employed in diplomatic missions or in 
the India service. 

Macaulay stands before the world to be judged as poet, 
essayist, orator, and historian. His best known poems, 
" Battle of Ivry " and the "Lays of Ancient Rome," are dis- 
tinguished by their passion and movement, but do not cause 
us to regret his preference for prose effort. As an essayist, 
Macaulay contributed to the reviews and magazines from 
1825 to 1844, and the titles of his principal articles are: 
"Milton," "Bacon," "Warren Hastings," "Lord Clive," 
"Addison," "Mill's Essays on Government." The essays 
are marked by their exhaustive manner of treatment, and 



SIXTH ERA: FROM COWPER TO PRESENT TIME. 131 

by their wonderful excellence in all the charms of the 
rhetorical style, and it is upon them that Macaulay's fame 
seems most likely to rest. As an orator he was considered 
one of the most instructive and eloquent speakers who 
ever sat in the English Commons. Macaulay's history 
of England was to extend from the accession of James 
the Second down to a time which is within the memory of 
men still living ; but his death caused the work to remain 
unfinished. His peculiar way of looking at history (as 
reflected from the customs, manners, and fashions of the 
time,) has rendered his history popular with those to whom 
philosophical history would be a sealed volume. Sir Archi- 
bald Alison, (himself an historian, as well as a eulogist of 
Macaulay,), complains of " a partial and one-sided exposition 
of the truth, accompanied by a generally exaggerated style 
of composition." As an author, Macaulay is distinguished 
for the grace and power of his diction, and for the effect- 
iveness fully as much as for the profundity of his thought. 
As a master of style, Macaulay, better than any other 
author, has shown us the power of well-written English, 
which confines itself to no one sentential structure, but 
uses each according to its needs. We owe to him the 
essay as a form for the exhaustive treatment of a subject^ 
and as a model of the excellences of a good style. 

REFERENCES FOR THE STUDENT. 

Arnold, Matthew : Essays in Criticism. 

Bagehot: Literary Studies. 

Bayne: Essays. 

Hillard, G. S. : Sixth Reader. 

Milman : Memoirs of Macaulay. 

Minto : English Prose Literature. 



132 ENGLISH AND AMERICAN LITERATURE. 

Morley, H. : Literature of the Age of Victoria. 

Morley, J. : Critical Miscellanies. 

Reed : Lectures on English Literature. 

Southey : Quarterly Review. 

Stedman : Yictorian Poets. 

Sterling : Critical Essays. 

Trevelyan : Life and Letters of Macaulay. 



BULWER. 

Sir Edward George Earle Lytton Bulwer was born in 
1805, and was the youngest son of General Bulwer ; he grad- 
uated at Cambridge when twenty-one, and took his degree of 
M. A. nine years later. As a child, Bulwer was interested 
in composition, and before he had arrived at man's estate 
had often "seen himself in print." In addition to his 
political responsibilities in Parliament, Bulwer has been one 
of the most industrious and prolific of our authors, and if 
his novels have been displaced by the masters of fiction 
who have developed the fullest capacities of the novel as a 
literary form, it is to be remembered that there was a period 
during which the supremacy belonged to Bulwer, and that 
through all time he must be regarded as a master of ex- 
pression. It is as a novelist that we ordinarily think of 
Bulwer, but the directions of his efforts are various and 
many. "The Last Days of Pompeii," "Rienzi," "The 
Last of the Barons," " Harold, or the Last of the Saxon 
Kings," are historical novels which still retain their place ; 
"Pelham," "The Caxtons," "My Novel," and "What 
will he do with it?" are the chief of Bulwer's many nov- 
els not historical; "The Lady of Lyons," a melodrama, 
and "Richelieu," a historical tragedy, still maintain them- 
selves as acting plays, and represent Bulwer as a dra- 



SIXTH ERA : FROM COWTER TO PRESENT TIME. 138 

matist; while "Athens, its Rise and Fall," may show 
Bulwer's scholarship and success in prose effort other than 
fiction. Of his poems it will be sufficient to mention his 
epic, " King Arthur," " The Lost Tales of Miletus," and 
his translations from Schiller. 

" He has vigorous and varied powers ; in all that he has 
touched on he has shown great mastery ; his sense of the 
noble, the beautiful, or the ludicrous is strong; he can 
move at will into the solemn or the sarcastic ; he is equally 
excellent in describing a court or a cottage." Cunning- 
ham. His style is highly polished, but somewhat artificial ; 
his translations from Schiller are hardly reproductions of 
the poet. His own poetry is rather the expression of a 
refined talent than of a genuine poetic organization. 

REFERENCES FOR THE STUDENT. 

Browning, Mrs. : Book of the Poets. 

Chorley : Bric-a-Brac Series. 

Gilfillan: Literary Portraits. 

Hows : Golden Leaves from the Dramatic Poets. 

Masson, D. : British Novelists. 

Morley, H. : Literature of the Age of Elizabeth. 

Scherr : History of English Literature. 

Senior : Essays on Fiction. 

Tuckerman, B. : English Prose Fiction. 

Carlyle. 

Thomas Carlyle, the son of a small farmer in Dumfries- 
shire, Scotland, was born in 1795, and died in 1881. 
After instruction in a preparatory school, Carlyle entered 
the University of Edinburgh and devoted himself to 



134 ENGLISH AND AMERICAN LITERATURE. 

mathematical studies. His original intention was to enter 
the ministry, but in 1823 he decided upon literature as a 
profession. In 1824 he contributed to " Brewster's Edin- 
burgh Encyclopaedia " articles upon Montesquieu, Mon- 
taigne, and Nelson; he subsequently added to these 
biographies, essays upon the two Pitts, and upon Joanna 
Baillie's " Play of the Passions," a translation of Goethe's 
" Wilhelm Meister," and the lives of " Schiller " and " Fred- 
erick the Great," besides his "French Revolution," and 
" Sartor Resartus." Carlyle's " Life and Letters of Oliver 
Cromwell," his lectures on " Hero-Worship and the Heroic 
in History," and his critical and miscellaneous essays, 
form in addition to the " French Revolution" and the 
translation of " Wilhelm Meister," the most popular of his 
works. 

Carlyle's works derive most of their value from the 
hatred of shams with which they inspire his readers; 
those whose sympathies are not thus affected are prone to 
say that, he assumes to be the reformer and castigator of 
his age — a reformer in philosophy, politics, and religion, 
denouncing the mechanical way of thinking, and deploring 
the utter want of faith, and yet having no distinct dogma, 
creed or constitution to promulgate ; and that while his 
style is his own, " it combines all possible faults." James 
Russell Lowell says of Carlyle's notice of Montaigne : " We 
find here no uncertain indication of that eye for the moral, 
picturesque, and sympathetic appreciation of character, 
which within the next few years was to make Carlyle the 
first in insight of English critics and the most vivid of 
English historians. What was the real meaning of this 
phenomenon ? what the amount of this man's honest per- 
formance in the world? and in what does he show that 



SIXTH ERA: FROM COWPER TO PRESENT TIME. 135 

family likeness, common to all the sons of Adam, which 
gives us a fair hope of being able to comprehend him ? 
These were the questions which Carlyle seems to have set 
himself honestly to answer in the critical writings which 
fill the first period of his life as a man of letters. . . . 
Everything that Mr. Carlyle wrote during this first period 
thrills with the purest appreciation of whatever is brave or 
beautiful in human nature, with the most vehement scorn 
of cowardly compromise with things base ; and yet, immiti- 
gable as his demand for the highest in us seems to be, there 
is always something reassuring in the humorous sympathy 
with mortal frailty, which softens condemnation and con- 
soles for shortcoming. The remarkable features of Mr. 
Carlyle's criticism is the sleuth-hound instinct with which 
he presses on to the matter of his theme, never turned aside 
by a false scent, regardless of the outward beauty of form, 
sometimes almost contemptuous of it, in his hunger after 
the intellectual nourishment which it may hide. . . . With 
him the ideal sense is secondary to the ethical and meta- 
physical, and he has but a faint sense of their possible 
unity." The defect of Mr. Carlyle's criticism "was a 
tendency, gaining strength with years, to confound the 
moral with the aesthetic standard, and to make the value 
of an author's work dependent on the general force of his 
nature, rather than on its special fitness for a given task. 
In proportion as his humor gradually overbalanced the 
other qualities of his mind, his taste for the eccentric, 
amorphous, and violent in men became excessive, disturbing 
more and more, his perception of the more commonplace 
attributes which give consistency to portraiture. His 
' French Revolution ' is a series of lurid pictures, un- 
matched for vehement power, in which the figures of such 



136 ENGLISH AND AMERICAN LITERATURE. 

sons of the earth as Mirabeau and Danton loom gigantic and 
terrible as in the glare of an eruption, their shadows sway- 
ing far and wide, grotesquely awful. But all is painted by 
eruptive flashes in violent light and shade. There are no 
half tints, no gradations, and we find it impossible to 
account for the continuance in power of less Titanic actors 
in the tragedy, like Robespierre, on any theory whether of 
human nature or of individual character supplied by Mr. 
Carlyle. Of his success, however, in accomplishing what 
he aimed at, which was to haunt the mind with memo- 
ries of a horrible political nightmare, there can be no 
doubt." 

His innate love of the picturesque, once turned in the 
direction of character, and finding its chief satisfaction 
there, led him to look for that ideal of human nature in 
individual men, which is but fragmentarily represented in 
the entire race, and is rather divined from the aspirations 
forever disenchanted, to be forever renewed, of the immortal 
part in us, than found in any example of actual achieve- 
ment. A wiser temper would have found something more 
consoling than disheartening in the continual failure of 
men eminently endowed to reach the standard of this 
spiritual requirement, would perhaps have found in it an 
inspiring hint that it is mankind and not special men, that 
are to be shaped at last into the image of God, and that 
the endless life of the generation may hope to come nearer 
that goal of which the short-breathed threescore years and 
ten fall too unhappily short. 

"Mr. Carlyle has no artistic sense of form or rhythm, 
scarcely of proportion. Accordingly, he looks on verse as 
something barbarous. . . . With a conceptive imagination, 
vigorous beyond any in his generation, with a mastery of 



SIXTH ERA: FEOM COWPEE TO PEESENT TIME. 137 

language equalled only by the greatest poets, lie wants 
altogether the plastic imagination, the shaping faculty, 
which would have made him a poet in the highest sense. 
He is a preacher and a prophet — anything you will — 
but an artist he is not and never can be." 

REFERENCES FOR THE STUDENT. 

Bayne : Lessons from my Master. 

Cunningham : Biographical and Critical History of the Last Fifty 
Years. 

Froucle : Thomas Carlyle ; Letters of Jane Carlyle. 

Lowell : My Study Windows. 

Martineau, Harriet: Essays. 

Minto : English Prose Literature. 

Morley, H. : Literature of the Age of Victoria. 

Morley, J. : Critical Miscellanies. 

Scherr : History of English Literature. 

De Quincey. 

Thomas De Quincey was born at Manchester, 1786, and 
died in 1859, at the age of seventy-three years. He was the 
son of a successful merchant, who gave him every advantage 
of education, sending him first to Eton, and then to Oxford. 
De Quincey's life was full of romance, and his unfortunate 
addiction to the use of opium was one of the evil results of 
his early waywardness. As a writer of the widest informa- 
tion, the most marked rhetorical excellences, and of insight 
the most penetrating, De Quincey is almost without rival. 
But these great gifts were robbed of their highest pro- 
ductiveness by an abnormal indulgence in day-dreaming, 
which led to imaginative vagaries rather than to creative 
work. 



138 ENGLISH AND AMERICAN LITERATURE. 

De Quincey has classified Ms own work into (1) : " Papers 
whose chief purpose is to instruct and amuse (autobio- 
graphic sketches, reminiscences of distinguished contem- 
poraries, biographical memoirs, whimsical narratives). (2) 
Essays of a speculative, critical, or philosophical char- 
acter, addressing the understanding as an insulated 
faculty ; and (3) prose poetry or imaginative prose." His 
best-known literary product is the "Confessions of an 
English Opium Eater " [himself] ; but many of his essays, 
such as those upon Shakespeare, Pope, Lamb, Goethe, and 
Schiller, German Literature, and the Caesars have a higher 
interest for the general reader. His writings are " distin- 
guished by their thorough grasp of their subject and their 
eloquence " ; their minor excellences have been described 
as " pungency, brevity, and force " of style ; " strong, 
graphic power, " " power of lending dignity to his sub- 
jects " ; "accuracy of detail, combined with poetic illus- 
trations; analytical reasoning and metaphysical research, 
united with uncommon pathos and refinement of ideas." 
" His faults : a subtlety which sometimes involves him in 
fanciful distinctions; ostentation of learning, and con- 
tempt for those whose opinions do not coincide with his 
own ; and a manner sometimes too brilliantly rhetorical." 

REFERENCES FOR THE STUDENT. 

Bayne : Essays. 

Beauties of De Quincey. 

Giles, H. : Illustrations of Genius. 

Minto : English Prose Literature. 

Morley : English Men of Letters Series. 

Page : Life of De Quincey. 

Stephen : Hours in a Library. 

Works of De Quincey : Shepard and Gill, 1873. 



SIXTH ERA : FROM COWPER TO PRESENT TIME. 139 

E. B. Browning. 

Elizabeth Barrett Browning was born in London in 
1809, and died at Florence in 1861. Her family, the 
Barretts, were in affluent circumstances, and gave her 
every advantage. When ten years of age she amused her- 
self by writing prose and verse, and when fifteen years old, 
she had acquired among those who knew her, a literary 
reputation ; two years later she published her first poems. 
Mrs. Browning, during the earlier part of her life, was 
constantly an invalid, and her success affords an illustra- 
tion of the fact that no conditions are such as to prevent 
successful effort. In 1846, she married Robert Browning, 
the poet, whose acquaintance she first made through his 
published works. Her married life was passed in Italy, 
and many of her poems find their subjects and their inspi- 
ration in this land dear to all scholars. All who are inter- 
ested in beautiful character, will wrong themselves if they 
fail to make the acquaintance of Mrs. Browning's biog- 
raphy. 

Mrs. Browning's most elaborate poem is called "Aurora 
Leigh," and is supposed to be a poetical autobiography ; its 
aim is to describe the mental and social development of a 
young girl. Of her minor poems may be mentioned " The 
Portuguese Sonnets," which taken together constitute an 
epithalamium of exquisite beauty; "The Cry of the 
Children," a touching protest against the employment of 
children in mines and factories; "Casa Guidi Windows," 
.and" A Tale of Villa Franca," patriotic lyrics; "My 
Kate," "Only a Curl," and "Mother and Poet," — in- 
tense poems, giving expression to family bereavement; 
and " Lines on Cowper's Grave," a just tribute to the poet, 



140 ENGLISH AND AMERICAN LITERATURE. 

and an illustration of the intense religious element in Mrs. 
Browning's character. In prose, Mrs. Browning wrote a 
number of essays which appear in her works as the " Greek 
Christian Poets," and " The Book of the Poets," than 
which few better aids can be found by those who wish their 
interest excited by the glowing enthusiasm of one whose 
admiration is genuine. 

The poetry of Mrs. Browning well illustrates the success 
of a writer whose excellences outweigh her defects, while 
both excellences and defects are so plainly marked, that 
even the unskilful may perceive them. The fact that 
Mrs. Browning is conceded to be the greatest of female 
poets, and the peer of any but the greatest of English 
poets, may serve to emphasize what has heretofore -been 
said about the futility of confining ourselves to any one of 
the three tests which have been illustrated under criticism. 
He who knows poetry only in connection with graceful 
versification, will rank Mrs. Browning very low ; he who 
disregards the peculiar demands of poetry, and judges only 
by the satisfaction to be derived from the thought, or from 
the sentiment, would over-estimate her poetry; he alone 
who examines Mrs. Browning's works in the light of the 
three methods of criticism, can appreciate the greatness and 
shortcomings of this remarkable and lovely woman. When 
tried by the rhetorical test, Mrs Browning is quite defec- 
tive; from the aesthetic standpoint her position among 
great artists will readily be admitted ; and when we con- 
sider the possible value of her work, we shall concede to 
her the position due to moral purpose, " directed by high- 
toned thought, and a devout spirit," to poems devoted to 
the development of the purest forms of character, the ex- 
pression of the most intense love for rational freedom, and 



SIXTH ERA : FROM COWPER TO PRESENT TIME. 141 

the most indignant and effective protest against all forms 
of tyranny and oppression. 

" There are some poets whom we picture to ourselves as 
surrounded with aureolas ; who are clothed in so pure an 
atmosphere, that when we speak of them, — though with a 
critical purpose and in this exacting age, — our language 
must express that tender fealty which sanctity and exalta- 
tion compel from all mankind. We are not sure of our 
judgment; ordinary tests fail us; the pearl is a pearl, 
though discolored ; fire is fire, though shrouded in vapor, 
or tinged with murky hues. We do not see clearly for 
often our eyes are blinded with tears; we love, we 
cherish, we revere. 

The memory and career of Elizabeth Barrett Browning 
appear to us like some beautiful ideal. Nothing is earthy, 
though all is human ; a spirit is passing before our eyes, 
yet with like passions with ourselves, and encased in a 
frame so delicate that every fibre is alive with feeling and 
tremulous with radiant thought. Her genius certainly 
may be compared to those sensitive, palpitating flames 
which harmonically rise and fall in response to every 
sound-vibration near them. Her whole being was 
rhythmic, and in a time when art was largely valued for 
itself alone, her utterances were the expression of her 
inmost soul. . . The Victorian era, with its wider range 
of opportunities for women, has been illustrated by the 
career of the greatest female poet that England has 
produced, — nor only England, but the whole territory 
of the English language ; more than this, the most in- 
spired woman, so far as known, of all who have com- 
posed in ancient or modern tongues, or flourished in any 
land or time." 



142 ENGLISH AND AMERICAN LITERATURE. 



REFERENCES FOR THE STUDENT. 

Browning, Mrs. : Letters to R. H. Home. 

Cleveland, CD.: Literature of the Nineteenth Century. 

Fuller, Margaret : Papers on Literature and Art. 

Oliphant: Literature of the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries. 

Poe, E. A. : Critical Essays. 

Scherr : History of English Literature. 

Shepard : Enchiridion of Style. 

Smith: Poets and Novelists. 

Stedman : Victorian Poets. 

Ward : English Poets. 

Whipple : Essays and Reviews. 

Tennyson. 

Alfred Tennyson, the present poet-laureate of England, 
and the recognized chief of living British poets, is the son 
of the Rector of Somersby, and was born in 1810. Ten- 
nyson followed the example of his two older brothers, and 
distinguished himself while a student in the University of 
Cambridge. At this point we must, in justice to the rights 
of the living, leave Mr. Tennyson's personal biography. 

Tennyson's literary career began in 1827, by the publi- 
cation of a volume of poems, the joint product of himself 
and his brother Charles ; in 1830, he published poems 
chiefly lyrical, and from this we may date the beginning 
of an influence which has increased until Tennyson has 
been recognized as the founder and master of a new school 
of poetry. 

Of his many poems we select for mention the following : 
" The Princess," " In Memoriam," " Maud," " The Idyls of 
the King," "Lotus Eaters," and "iEnone." 

" It seems to me that the only just estimate of Tenny- 
son's position is that which declares him to be by eminence 



SIXTH ERA : FROM COWPER TO PRESENT TIME. 14S 

the representative poet of the recent era. Not, like one or 
another of his compeers, representative of the melody, 
wisdom, passion, or other partial phase of the era, but of 
the time itself, with its diverse elements in harmonious 
conjunction. Years have strengthened my belief that a 
future age will regard him, independently of his merits, as 
bearing this relation to his period. In his verse he is as 
truly the 'glass of fashion and the mould of form' of the 
Victorian generation in the nineteenth century as Spenser 
was of the Elizabethan Court ; Milton, of the Protectorate ; 
Pope, of the reign of Queen Anne. During his supremacy 
there have been few great leaders, at the head of different 
schools, such as belonged to the time of Byron, Words- 
worth, and Keats. His poetry has gathered all the ele- 
ments which find vital expression in the complex modern 
art. 

" We find in Alfred Tennyson the true poetic irritability, 
a sensitiveness increased by his secluded life, and displayed 
from time to time in the ' least little touch of the spleen ' ; 
we perceive him to be the most faultless of modern poets 
in technical execution, but one whose verse is more re- 
markable for artistic perfection than for dramatic action 
and inspired fervor. His adroitness surpasses his inven- 
tion. Give him a theme and no poet can handle it so 
exquisitely, — yet we feel that with the Malory legends to 
draw upon, he could go on writing 'Idyls of the King' 
forever. We find him objective in the spirit of the verse, 
but subjective in the decided manner of his style ; possess- 
ing a sense of proportion, based upon the highest analytic 
and synthetic powers, — a faculty that can harmonize the 
incongruous thoughts, scenes, and general detail of a com- 
posite period, in thought resembling Wordsworth, in art 



144 ENGLISH AND AMERICAN LITERATURE. 

instructed by Keats but rejecting the passion of Byron, or 
having nothing in his nature which aspires to it ; finally, 
an artist so perfect in a widely extended range, that nothing 
of his work can be spared, and in this respect approaching 
Horace and out-vying Pope; not one of the great wits, 
nearly allied to madness, yet possibly to be accepted as a 
wiser poet, serene above the frenzy of the storm ; certainly 
to be regarded, in time to come, as, all in all, the fullest 
representative of the refined, speculative, complex Victo- 
rian Age" JEJ. 0. Stedman. It should be added that many 
successful students of literature find in Tennyson's Idyls 
" a dramatic quality and a forcible character painting " 
which might not be suspected from Mr. Stedman's remarks. 

REFERENCES FOR THE STUDENT. 

Arnold, Matthew : Essa} T s in Criticism. 

Austin : The Poets Laureate. 

Bayne : Essays in Criticism, First Series. 

Brimley: Essays. 

Buchanan : David Gray, and other Essays. 

Dowden : Studies in Literature. 

Emerson, R. W. : English Traits. 

Genung, J. F. : Tennyson's In Memoriam. 

Japp : Three Great Teachers. 

Kingsley: Miscellanies. 

Moir : Poetical Literature of the Past Half Century. 

Scherr: History of English Literature. 

Stedman : Victorian Poets. 

Robert Browning. 

Robert Browning was born at Camberwell in 1812, 
was educated at the London University, and became known 
as a poet in 1836, As Mr. Browning is still living, any 



SIXTH ERA : FROM COWPER TO PRESENT TIME. 145 

personal biography must be omitted, since be has become 
the world's property only in virtue of his poetry. 

Browning's first publication was " Paracelsus." We shall 
content ourselves by mentioning in addition " The Blot 
on the Scutcheon," as the finest of his longer efforts ; " My 
Lost Duchess," as one of the most characteristic of his 
poems, and as the one most suitable for those just forming 
the acquaintance of our poet ; and " A King," " The Lost 
Leader," and "How they brought the Good News from 
Ghent to Aix," as the most popular of his minor poems. 
Mr. Browning has been said to be, " a thinker rather than 
a singer " ; the most marked characteristic of his poetry is 
the constant exercise of his logical faculty, so that while 
all of his poems present the most complete unity, they 
demand the closest attention on the part of the reader. 
The images are addressed to the understanding rather than 
to the imagination, and the image presented through ,the 
poems as entireties address the thinking, logical faculty. 
The themes selected are those collisions in human life 
which become painful to all who indulge in introspection, 
which occur in times of general culture, and which, 
while possible only in such times, are likely to be exceed- 
ingly frequent when culture outruns knowledge. It is 
for those who attempt to think while they yet lack the 
materials for true thought, that Mr. Browning tries to 
think logically. As a poet, Mr. Browning disregards 
formal excellence in his interest in a product which shall 
be true from the highest standpoint, not merely that of 
completeness or of aesthetics, and which shall make clear 
to others those insights which reward his efforts as a 
student of certain of the problems of life. 

Mr. Browning represents and well represents what is in 



146 ENGLISH AND AMERICAN LITERATURE. 

modern times called metaphysical poetry, poetry whose 
themes are generally selected by metaphysicians, and whose 
treatment falls rather within the province of the philoso. 
pher than of the poet. The same subject will naturally 
excite different suggestions in different minds ; some will 
be filled with an emotion which will find a corresponding 
expression; others will be interested by the passions in- 
volved; others still, like Mr. Browning, will find their 
attention occupied by the desire for an explanation. 

"His mission has been that of exploring the secret 
regions which generate the forces whose outward phenom- 
ena it is for the playwrights to illustrate. He has opened 
a new field for the display of emotional power, founding, 
so to speak, a sub-dramatic school of "ooetry, whose office 
is to follow the workings of the mind, to discover the 
impalpable elements of which human motives and passions 
are composed. The greatest forces are the most elusive, 
the unseen, mightier than the seen ; modern genius chooses 
to seek for the undercurrents of the soul, rather than to 
depict acts and situations. Browning, as the poet of 
psychology, escapes to that stronghold whither, as I have 
said, science and materialism are not yet prepared to follow 
him. How shall the chemist read the soul? No former 
poet has so relied upon this province for the excursions of 
his muse. True, he explores by night, stumbles, halts, 
has vague ideas of the topography, and often goes back upon 
his course. But though others complete the unfinished 
work of Columbus, it is to him that we award the glory 
of discovery ; not to the engineers and colonists that suc- 
ceed him, however firmly they may plant themselves, and 
correctly map out the undisputed land. ... A group of 
evils then has interfered with his poetry. His style is 



SIXTH EEA : FROM COWPER TO PRESENT TIME. 147 

that of a man caught in a morass of ideas through which 
he has to travel, wearily floundering, grasping here and 
there, and often sinking deeper until there seems no 
prospect of getting through. His latest works have been 
more involved and exclusive, less beautiful and elevating 
than most of those which preceded them. . . . Browning's 
early lyrics, and occasional passages of recent date, show 
that he has melodious intervals, and can be very artistic 
with no loss of original power. Often the ring of his 
verse is sonorous, and overcomes the jagged consonantal 
diction with stirring, logical effect. The ' Cavalier Tunes ' 
are examples. . . . Unlike Tennyson, he does not compre- 
hend the limits of a theme ; nor has he an idea of the rela- 
tive importance either of themes or details ; his mind is so 
alert, that its minutest turn of thought must be uttered ; 
he dwells with equal precision upon the meanest and 
grandest objects, and laboriously jots down every point that 
occurs to him, — parenthesis within parenthesis, — until 
we have a tangle as intricate as the line drawn by an 
anemometer upon the recording sheet. The poem is all 
zigzag, criss-cross, at odds and ends, and though we come 
out right at last, strength and patience are exhausted in 
mastering it. Apply the rule that nothing should be told 
in verse which can be told in prose, and half his measures 
would be condemned ; since their chief metrical purpose 
is, through the stress of rhythm, to fix our attention, by 
a certain unpleasant fascination, upon a process of reason- 
ing from which it would otherwise break away. 

" The general effect of Browning's miscellaneous poems is 
like that of a picture gallery, where cabinet paintings, by 
old and modern masters, are placed at random upon the 
walls. Some are rich in color, others strong in light and 



148 ENGLISH AND AMERICAN LITERATURE. 

shade. A few are elaborately finished, more are careless 
drawings, fresh but hurriedly sketched in. Often the 
subjects are repulsive, but occasionally we have the solitary, 
impressive figure of a lover or a saint. . . . He is the 
most intellectual of the poets, Tennyson not excepted. 
Take for example ' Caliban,' with its text, ' Thou thought- 
est I was altogether such an one as thyself.' The motive 
is anthropomorphism, by reflection of its counterpart in a 
lower animal, half-man, half-beast, possessed of the faculty 
of speech. The ' natural theology ' is food for thought ; 
the poetry descriptive and otherwise, realism carried to 
such perfection as to seem imagination. Here we have 
Browning's curious reasoning at its best. ... I have called 
him the most original and the most unequal of living 
poets ; he continually descends to a prosaic level, but at 
times is elevated to the Laureate's highest flights. With- 
out realizing the proper functions of art, he nevertheless, 
sympathizes with the joyous liberty of its devotees; his 
life may be conventional, but he never forgets the Latin 
Quarter, and often celebrates that freedom in love and 
song. . . . He is an eclectic, and will not be restricted in 
his themes ; on the other hand, he gives us too gross a mix- 
ture of poetry, fact, and metaphysics, appearing to have no 
sense of composite harmony, but to revel in arabesque 
strangeness and confusion. He has a barbaric sense of 
color, and lack of form. Striving against the trammels of 
verse, he really is far less a master of expression than 
others who make less resistance." 

REFERENCES FOR THE STUDENT. 
Bayne: Essays. 
Browning Society Publications. 
Buchanan : David Gray and other Essays. 



SIXTH ERA : FROM COWPER TO PRESENT TIME. 149 

Dowden : Studies in Literature. 

Marsh: English Language. 

Nettleship : Essays on Browning's Poetry. 

Shepard : Enchiridion of Style. 

Stedman : Victorian Poets. 

Symons : Study of Robert Browning. 

White : Selections from the Poetry of Robert Browning. 

Dark Blue, IL, 171, 305. 



Dickens. 

Charles Dickens was born at Portsmouth in 1812, and 
died at the age of fifty-eight. His father held a position in 
the "Navy Pay Department," and was afterwards a Re- 
porter of Parliamentary Debates. Dickens himself was 
educated with the expectation that law would be his pro- 
fession, but when eighteen years of age he persuaded his 
father to let him join the corps of reporters. 

To know Charles Dickens the man, is of less import than 
an acquaintance with Charles Dickens the novelist. Like 
Macaulay and Thackeray, Dickens, the author, is quite 
distinct from Dickens, the individual. Those whose inter- 
est in Dickens's works leads them to desire an acquaint- 
ance with the biography of the writer, can satisfy them- 
selves with Forster's " Life of Dickens." 

Dickens is generally known by his " Pickwick Papers " 
and by his novels ; and it is upon these that his literary 
reputation rests. But, in addition to these, he edited for a 
time The Daily News (a paper founded by himself) and 
Household Words, besides writing "The Child's History of 
England and " American Notes for General Circulation." 
Dickens's novels deal with reform, character, and history ; 
those best known are " Oliver Twist," " Dombey and 



150 ENGLISH AND AMERICAN LITERATURE. 

Son," and " David Copperfield." The excellences and 
defects of Dickens, as a novelist, can best be realized from 
the following extracts. 

" There is no misanthropy in his satire, no coarseness in 
his descriptions ; the tendency of his books is to make us 
practically benevolent; to excite our sympathy in behalf 
of the grieved and suffering in all classes, — especially in 
those who are most removed from observation, — and this 
without taint of sentimentality." 

" The good characters do not have a wholesome moral 
tendency, for they exhibit an excellence flowing from con- 
stitutional temperament, and not from the influence of 
moral or religious principle ; they act from impulse, and 
not from principle. They present no struggle of contend- 
ing passions ; they are instinctively incapable of evil ; they 
are, therefore, not constituted like other human beings, and 
do not feel the force of temptation as it assails our less 
perfect breasts. Undue prominence is given to good tem- 
per and kindness, so that they replace the other virtues, and 
form an atonement for the want of the latter. It is unfor- 
tunate that Mr. Dickens so frequently represents persons 
with pretensions to virtue and piety, as mere rogues and 
hypocrites, and never depicts any whose station as clergy- 
men, or reputation for piety, is consistently adorned and 
verified." 

To complete these criticisms there should be mentioned his 
great dramatic power and simple conversational English on 
the one side, and on the other his choice of themes in which 
ordinary people find their philosophy and religion reflected. 

Dickens's characteristics are thus enumerated by George 
S. Hillard: "Peculiar and original vein of humor; quaint, 
grotesque, and unexpected combination of ideas. Excels 



SIXTH ERA : FROM COWPER TO PRESENT TIME. 151 

in scenes of sickness or death, and lias uncommon skill in 
the minute representation of scenes of still life. Tone, 
sound and healthy, poetical imagination, hatred of injustice 
and oppression." 

REFERENCES FOR THE STUDENT. 

Bagehot : Literary Studies. 

Bayne: Essays. 

Cleveland, CD.: Literature of the Nineteenth Century. 

Fields, J. T. : Yesterdays with Authors. 

Forster : Life of Dickens. 

Hanaf ord : Life and Writings of Charles Dickens. 

Home : New Spirit of the Age. 

Jerrold : Best of all Good Company. 

Masson, D. : British Novelists. 

Morley, H. : Literature of the Age of Victoria. 

Scherr : History of English Literature. 

Shepard : Enchiridion of Style. 

Stoddard : Bric-a-Brac Series. 

Whipple : Literature and Life. 

Thackeray. 

William Makepeace Thackeray was the son of a gen- 
tleman in the civil service of the East India Company, and 
was born at Calcutta in 1811. He was educated in Eng- 
land, first at the Charter House School, and then at the 
University of Cambridge. While he was still a boy he lost 
his father, and before he was thirty-eight he had lost a large 
fortune through injudicious investments on the part of his 
friends and himself. He was admitted to the bar in 1848, 
studied art, and finally determined upon a literary career, 
which he had begun eight years before as a correspondent 
of the London Times and of Punch. 

Thackeray's greatest work is popularly considered to be 



152 ENGLISH AND AMERICAN LITERATURE. 

his novel, "Vanity Fair," in which, says David Masson, 
" It is Thackeray's aim to represent life as it is actually and 
historically, — men and women as they are, in those situ- 
ations in which they are usually placed, with that mixture 
of good and evil, and of strength and of foible, which is to 
be found in their characters, and liable only to those inci- 
dents which are of ordinary occurrence." 

Thackeray's other novels are "Pendennis," "The History 
of Henry Esmond," (by many considered the most artistic 
of Thackeray's works), " The Newcomes," (the character 
drawing in which is preferred by many to that of his other 
novels), and " The Virginians." His humorous work is 
best represented by "The Four Georges"; and his critical 
efforts by his " English Humorists of the Eighteenth 
Century." 

REFERENCES FOR THE STUDENT. 

Brown : Thackeray's Literary Career. 

Cleveland, CM.: Literature of the Nineteenth Century. 

Dickens : In Memoriam. 

Emerson, R. W. : English Traits. 

Hannay : Studies on Thackeray. 

Masson, D. : British Novelists. 

Morley, H. : Literature of the Age of Victoria. 

Morley, J. : English Men of Letters Series. 

Scherr : History of English Literature. 

Smith : Poets and Novelists. 

Stoddard : Later English Poets. 

Whipple : Character and Characteristic Men. 

Grote. 

George Grote was born at Berkenham, England, in 
1794, and was the son of a London banker ; the early part 
of his active life was passed as a clerk in his father's bank- 



SIXTH ERA : FROM COWPER TO PRESENT TIME. 153 

ing house ; later, his time was occupied with parliamentary 
responsibilities, and in the preparation of his literary work, 
" The History of Greece." Of this work, Sir Archibald 
Alison says, " A decided Liberal, perhaps even a Republican 
in politics, Mr. Grote has labored to counteract the influ- 
ence of Mr. Mitford in Grecian history, and to construct a 
history of Greece from authentic materials, which should 
illustrate the animating influence of democratic freedom 
upon the exertions of the human mind. . . . He has dis- 
played an extent of learning, a variety of research, a power 
of combination, which are worthy of the very highest 
praise, and which have secured for him a lasting place 
among the historians of modern times." 

In addition to his history, Mr. Grote has given the world 
treatises on Aristotle and Plato, and essays published under 
the title of " Minor Works of Mr. Grote." 

Grote is credited by Bain with (1) historical or narrative 
interest ; (2) interest in the process of growth or evolu- 
tion ; (3) earnest devotion to mental science. The same 
critic says that Grote's theme is human liberty, and that 
his diction is of the best ; it is thoroughly intelligible, for- 
cible, and pointed, elegant and refined ; it has few manner- 
isms and no affectations. His vocabulary is inclined to an 
excess of classical words, by which he gains superior 
precision and occasional terseness ; he coined a good many 
words from the Latin and the Greek, most of which are 
admitted as necessities. Of figures of rhetoric, he freely 
indulges in similes and metaphors ; his only other figura- 
tive device was the manipulation of abstract nouns and 
adjectives for brevity. The bolder figures, epigram, hy- 
perbole, interrogation, and climax are scarcely used ; 
antithesis, or pointed balance, is entirely wanting. His 



154 ENGLISH AND AMERICAN LITERATURE. 

sentences are simple and intelligible in arrangement ; 
sometimes periodic, but more commonly loose ; they are 
tolerably but not studiously various in plan, and long and 
short are freely interchanged ; the flow is easy and unaf- 
fected. Of the expository qualities of style, precision and 
perspicuity took precedence ; extreme simplicity, or being 
intelligible to the lowest capacity through the employment 
of homely and familiar phrases, was not aimed at. As 
regards the emotional qualities, he could upon occasions 
command strength and pathos alike, and impart their 
charm to the history. Humor he neyer sought to attain. 
His touches of high poetic elegance, if not numerous, are 
sometimes exquisite in quality. The chief complaint 
against the style is that it is not continuously artistic ; the 
remark is also made, that in the distribution of the mate- 
rials, the author allows the discussions, authorities, and 
quotations to hang like a weight upon the narrative ; that 
he has both repetitions and dislocations. 

REFEERNCES FOR THE STUDENT. 

Alison : History of Europe. 

Bain : Minor Works of George Grote. 

Mill, J. S. : Autobiography. 

Eliot. 

Marian C. Evans, Mrs. Lewes, and then Mrs. Cross, 
known by the nom de plume of George Eliot, was the 
daughter of a land agent, and was born in 1820. A large 
part of her training was received from Herbert Spencer, 
and embraced Italian, German, and French, music, art, logic, 
and metaphysics ; the scope of her education gave Mrs. 



SIXTH ERA : FROM COWPER TO PRESENT TIME. 155 

Lewes, as it also did Mrs. Browning, an unusual range for 
her natural abilities. George Eliot created the psychologi- 
cal novel just as truly as Scott did the historical, and a 
place in the history of literature thereby became hers even 
while her position in literature must remain a matter which 
does not admit of present determination. 

George Eliot is known by her novels, although the ear- 
liest of these appeared twelve years after her first publica- 
tion — " Strauss's Life of Jesus " having for its date 1846, 
and " Adam Bede," 1858. 

"Adam Bede," "The Mill on the Floss," " Silas Mar- 
ner," "Romola," "Felix Holt," " Middlemarch," and 
" Daniel Deronda," are the titles of George Eliot's novels, 
arranged in the order of their publication. Of her poems 
may be mentioned, " The Spanish Gipsy," " How Liza 
Loved the King," and the fire-passioned lyric, " Oh, that I 
might join the choir invisible." 

Her essays are specially characteristic, interesting, and 
valuable. 

The purpose of her novels appears to be to teach the 
grandeur of unselfishness, the necessity of finding some 
worthy work to do, and of doing it with whole-souled vigor. 
For these high ends, neither wealth nor station is indis- 
pensable. Her knowledge of character is as subtle and 
profound as that of any novelist; it has something of 
Shakespeare's sympathy and depth of insight. She fails, 
perhaps, in the construction of her plots, and her compre- 
hensive delineation of character retards the movement of 
the story. Her view of the individual life, as dominated 
by the prevailing potence of the universal life, emphasizes, 
perhaps, too strongly the latter of these two, and renders, 
therefore, the outcome of her novels not sufficiently irradi- 



156 ENGLISH AND AMERICAN LITERATURE. 

ated by the light of hope ; but her breadth of imaginative 
sympathy, the" perfection of her style, her seizing of life's 
deepest mysteries as the groundwork of her novels, her 
marvellous erudition, render her one of the most illustrious 
of women. Her poems have not the merit of her novels, 
but there is enough of her noble genius in them to make 
them worthy of faithful study. 

REFERENCES FOR THE STUDENT. 

Blind, Matilde : George Eliot. 

British Quarterly Review, 1863, 1868. 

Cooke, G. W. : George Eliot ; a Critical Study. 

Cross, J. W. : George Eliot's Life as related in her Letters. 

Dowden : Studies in Literature. 

Harper's Monthly, 1881, 1882. 

Hutton : Essays, Theological and Literary. 

Lancaster, H. H. : Essays and Reviews. 

Lanier, Sidney : The English Novel. 

London Quarterly Review, 1860. 

McCarthy, Justin : Modern Leaders. 

Morley J. : Critical Miscellanies. 

H. : Literature of the Age of Victoria. 
Myers, F. W. H. : Essays Modern. 
Nineteenth Century, Vol. 9. 
Paul C. Kegan : Biographical Sketches. 
Penn Monthly, Vol. X. 

Scherer : Etudes sur la Litterature Conternporaine. 
Scherr: History of English Literature. 
Sheppard, William : Pen Pictures of Modern Authors. 
Scribner's Magazine, 1874. 
The Spectator, George Eliot's Heroines. 
The Galaxy, Vol. 7. 

SOUTHEY. 

Robert Southey was the son of a British linen-draper, 
and was born in 1774. He was educated at Bristol, Corston, 
and Westminster schools, and later at Oxford University. 



SIXTH ERA : FROM COWPER TO PRESENT TIME. 157 

He had expected to enter the ministry, but after a year at 
college he married, and accompanied his uncle to Lisbon. 
In 1794, he began the study of law, but soon relinquished 
any thought of following this profession ; and in 1801, he 
determined to devote his whole effort to literature, which 
he continued to do until his death in 1843. 

Southey left fifty-seven separate works, besides one hun- 
dred and forty-nine articles in the magazines and reviews. 
Of his poetical works we may select "Joan of Arc," 
"Thalaba," the "Destroyer," "Madox," "The Curse of 
Kehama," besides such lesser poems as " The Battle of 
Blenheim," "Mary, the Maid of the Inn," "The Well 
of Saint Keyne," " Bishop Bruno," " The Inchcape Rock," 
" Rudiger," " The Cataract of Lodore," — most of which are 
familiar to young students. 

Of Southey 's prose, there may stand as representatives 
the biographies of John Wesley, John Bunyan, " The Lives 
of the British Admirals," and the histories of Brazil and of 
the Peninsular War. Hazlitt says : " Mr. Southey's prose 
style can scarcely be too much praised. It is plain, clear, 
pointed, familiar, perfectly modern in its texture, but with 
a grave and sparkling admixture of archaisms in its orna- 
ments." 

REFERENCES FOR THE STUDENT. 

Brandes : Literature of the Nineteenth Century. 

Coleridge : Works. 

Dow den : Studies in Literature. 

Hazlitt : English Poets. 

Jerdan : Men I Have Known. 

Macaulay: Essays. 

Morley, J. : English Men of Letters Series. 

H. : Literature of the Age of Victoria. 
Reed : Lectures on the English Poets. 
Robinson, H. C. : Diary and Correspondence. 



158 english and american literature. 

Campbell. 

Thomas Campbell was born in Glasgow in 1777, and 
died at Boulogne in 1844. He was educated at the Uni- 
versity of Glasgow, and was distinguished by proficiency 
in classical studies. When twenty-two he published his 
" Pleasures of Hope," and at once found himself a poet of 
reputation. Campbell's whole life was devoted to literary 
pursuits, and Ms works, while not voluminous, are by no 
means insignificant in extent. 

The best known of Campbell's poems are " Gertrude of 
Wyoming," "The Pleasures of Hope," "Lord Ullin's 
Daughter," " Hohenlinden," "The Battle of the Baltic," 
and "Ye Mariners of England." His "Specimens of the 
British Poets" gives an appreciative view of the excel- 
lences and defects of our English poets, and his selections 
from their works are such as to make his book still among 
the best collections of poetry. If, as is said by some, they 
are not the best specimens, they are the specimens most 
commonly used by other compilers, and in many cases show 
the sensibility of one who was himself a poet. Every one 
should be familiar with the prefatory essay which gives 
a poet's view of English poetry, and his estimate of his 
brother poets. Campbell's naval odes are said to have been 
worth more to England than a fleet of vessels. 

Moir speaks of "The Pleasures of Hope" as follows: 
"Sentiments tender, energetic, impassioned, eloquent, and 
majestic, are conveyed to the reader in the tones of a music 
forever varied." The same writer says of "Gertrude of 
Wyoming," "It is superior to the 'Pleasures of Hope' in 
only one thing in which that poem could be surpassed — 
purity of diction." 



Campbell's lyrics are among the most successful of Eng- 
lish poems; his prose writings are well deserving of 
attention. 

REFERENCES FOR THE STUDENT. 

Hazlitt: English Poets. 

Jeffrey: Edinburgh Review, Vol. 14. 

Jerdan : Men I Have Known. 

Moir : Poetical Literature of the Past Half -Century. 

Scherr: History of English Literature. 

Whipple: Essays and Reviews. 

MOOKE. 

Thomas Moore, the son of a tradesman, was born in 
Dublin, May 28, 1779, and died in 1832. He was educated 
at Trinity College in that city, and then going to London 
entered the Middle Temple for the purpose of studying 
law as a profession. In due course of time he was " called 
to the bar," but like so many others he preferred to court 
the muses rather than the goddess who dispenses legal 
success. His first work published in 1800, was a transla- 
tion of "Anacreon," and met with immediate success. 
His succeeding publications, under the name of Thomas 
Little, met with deserved censure. His principal poems 
are "Lalla Rookh," a gorgeous series of Oriental stories 
strung on a charming thread of romance ; " Religious 
Lyrics," among the most beautiful of our sacred poetry; 
" The Fudge Family in Paris," a social satire ; and the 
"Irish Melodies," a series of truly national songs, ex- 
quisitely sweet in versification, varied in sentiment and 
open to criticism only as being too artificial in refinement 
and polish, — a work on which his fame mainly and se- 
curely rests. Moore's lives of Sheridan and Byron, 



160 ENGLISH AND AMERICAN LITERATURE. 

particularly the latter, are admirable specimens of biog- 
raphy and are, perhaps, the best of his prose writings. He 
has also left a prose romance, " The Epicurean," brilliant 
and picturesque, but deficient in human interest. His 
fancy is inexhaustibly fertile ; in the higher capabilities 
of the imagination Moore was wanting, and his style, 
although smooth and elegant, is somewhat careless, and 
will not bear the severity of critical examination. 

REFERENCES FOR THE STUDENT. 

Brimley: Essays. 

Graham : Literature and Art in Great Britain. 
Hazlitt : English Poets ; Spirit of the Age. 
Whipple : Essays and Reviews. 

Jeffrey. 

Francis Jeffrey (1773-1850) was born in Edinburgh, 
passed four years at the universities of Glasgow, and 
Oxford, and in 1794 was "admitted as an advocate." An 
acquaintance with Sydney Smith and Lord Brougham, 
formed at the " Speculative Society " resulted in the found- 
ing of the Edinburgh Review, and the assumption by 
Jeffrey of its editorship. In 1829, Jeffrey retired to 
become Dean of the Faculty of Advocates ; 1830, Lord- 
advocate ; 1831-4, Member of Parliament; 1834, Chief 
Justice of the Court of Sessions. 

" In person the subject of our memoir was of low stature ; 
but his figure, which he tried to set off to the best advantage, 
was elegant and well-proportioned. His features were 
continually varying in expression, and were said to have 
baffled our best artists. The face was rather elongated, 
the chin deficient, the mouth well formed, with a mingled 



SIXTH ERA : FROM COWPER TO PRESENT TIME. 161 

expression of determination, sentiment, and mockery. The 
eye was the most peculiar feature of the countenance ; it was 
large and sparkling, but with a want of transparency." 

The Edinburgh Review under the conduct of Jeffrey 
became the great literary and political power of the time, 
and Jeffrey's authority as a critic was recognized through- 
out the realms of literature. William Hazlitt describes 
Jeffrey's qualifications as a critic as follows : " Thoroughly 
acquainted with the progress and pretensions of modern 
literature and philosophy, he was possessed of the natural 
acuteness and discrimination of the logician, with habitual 
caution and coolness. . . . His strength consists in a great 
range of knowledge, and equal familiarity with the princi- 
ples and the details of a subject, and in glancing brilliancy 
and rapidity of style." 

Lord Jeffrey's literary work consisted of papers con- 
tributed to the Edinburgh Review, and are some two 
hundred in number ; seventy-nine of them are republished 
in a volume called " Contributions to the Edinburgh Re- 
vidw. Of these articles, ten are devoted to general litera- 
ture and literary biography ; ten, to history and historical 
memoirs; twenty-two, to poetry; six, to philosophy of the 
mind, metaphysics, and jurisprudence ; eight, to novels, 
tales, and prose works of fiction; six, to politics; and 
seventeen, to miscellanies. 

REFERENCES FOR THE STUDENT. 

Alison: Essays. 

Hazlitt : Spirit of the Age. 

Morley, H. : Literature of the Age of Victoria. 

Talfourd : Critical and Miscellaneous Writings. 

Whipple : Essays and Reviews. 

Wilson, John : Essays Critical and Imaginative. 



162 ENGLISH AND AMERICAN LITERATURE. 

LlNGARD. 

John Lingard (1771-1851) was distinguished alike for 
his zealous defence of the tenets of his church (the Roman 
Catholic), and by "his literary industry, sincere piety, and 
exemplary deportment." Lingard's place in literature 
depends upon two reliable works; "The History and 
Antiquities of the Anglo-Saxon Church," and the " History 
of England from the First Invasion by the Romans to the 
Accession of William and Mary in 1688. Dibdin says: 
" The style is clear, vigorous, and unaffected ; the facts 
are, upon the whole, fairly developed, and the authorities 
faithfully consulted. . . . His notes bear evidence of his 
research ; and although his coloring of some characters will 
necessarily be seen with different eyes by Papist and 
Protestant, yet it must be fairly acknowledged that the 
cause of historical truth (if truth there be in history) is 
in all respects promoted by the cautious investigations and 
dispassionate remarks which characterize by far the greater 
portion of his work. Mr. Lingard has caused the historical 
critic to examine anew the data from which his inferences 
have been drawn respecting the reigns of Henry the Eighth 
and Queens Mary and Elizabeth." 

REFERENCES FOR THE STUDENT. 
Cunningham : Biographical and Critical History of the Last Fifty 
Years. 
Hallam : Literature of Europe. 
Smyth : Lectures on Modern History. 

Lamb. 
Charles Lamb was born in London in 1775. Soon after 
his education at Christ's Hospital, he became a clerk in the 
offices of the East India Company, in whose employ he 



SIXTH ERA : FROM COWPER TO PRESENT TIME. 163 

remained until retired, in 1825, upon a pension, which he 
enjoyed until his death in 1834. As Shakespeare needs no 
biography for the full appreciation of his works, so Charles 
Lamb represents the other extreme, and his works find an 
added flavor in our knowledge of the personal and social 
life of this estimable man and lovely character. 

"Mr. Lamb has succeeded, not by conforming to the 
spirit of the age, but in opposition to it. He does not 
march boldly along with the crowd, but steals off the 
pavement to pick his way in a contrary direction. He 
prefers byways to highways. When the full tide of human 
life pours along to some festive show, to some pageant of 
the day, Elia 1 would stand on one side to look over an old 
bookstall, or stroll down some deserted pathway in search 
of a pensive inscription over a tottering doorway, or some 
quaint device in architecture illustrative of embryo art and 
ancient manners. Mr. Lamb has the very soul of an anti- 
quarian, as this implies a reflecting humanity ; the film of 
the past hovers forever before him. He is shy, sensitive, 
the reverse of everything coarse, vulgar, obtrusive, and 
commonplace. He would fain shuffle off this mortal coil, 
and his spirit clothe itself in the garb of elder time, hom- 
lier, but more durable. 

" He is borne along with no pompous paradoxes, shines 
in no glittering tinsel of a fashionable phraseology ; he is 
neither fop nor sophist. He has none of the turbulence 
or froth of new-fangled opinions. His style runs pure and 
clear, though it may often take an underground course, or 
be conveyed through old-fashioned conduit pipes. Mr. 
Lamb does not court popularity, nor strut in gaudy plumes, 
but shrinks from every kind of ostentation and obvious 
1 Elia, a name assumed by Charles Lamb as a writer of essays. 



164 ENGLISH AND AMERICAN LITERATURE. 

pretension into the retirement of his own mind. Rather 
affects and is tenacious of the obscure and remote ; of that 
which rests upon its own intrinsic and silent merit, which 
scorns all alliance, or even the suspicion of owing anything 
to noisy clamor, to the glare of circumstances. He delights 
to dwell upon that which is fresh to the eye of memory ; 
he yearns after and covets what soothes the frailty of 
human nature. He is endeared to his friends not less by 
his foibles than his virtues. His style is subject to the 
charge of certain mannerism ; sentences cast in the mould 
of the old authors; his expressions are borrowed from 
them." — William Hazlitt. 

"Tales from the Plays of Shakespeare," "The Adven- 
tures of Ulysses," "Specimens of English Dramatic Poets," 
" Essays of Elia," are the titles of the prose works upon 
which rest Lamb's literary claims. The first will be found 
interesting to all young students of Shakespeare ; the 
second presents the story of the Odyssey ; the third forms 
the best means for a general acquaintance with the excel- 
lencies of the Elizabethan dramatists ; while the last, 
together with Lamb's letters, is the ever-agreeable com- 
panion of those who can appreciate the merits of this 
charming writer. Of these essays, Talfourd says : " They 
are carefully elaborated ; yet never were works written in 
a higher defiance to the conventional pomp of style. A 
sly hit, a happy pun, a humorous combination, lets the light 
into the intricacies of the subject, and supplies the place 
of ponderous sentences. Seeking his materials for the 
most part in the common paths of life, — often in the 
humblest, — he gives an importance to everything, and 
sheds a grace over all." Thomas De Quincey writes : 
" The prose essays, under the signature of Elia, form the 



SIXTH ERA: FROM COWTER TO PRESENT TIME. 165 

most delightful section among Lamb's works. They tra- 
verse a peculiar field of observation, sequestered from 
general interest; and they are composed in a spirit too 
delicate and unobtrusive to catch the ear of the noisy 
crowd clamoring for strong sensations." 

As a poet Lamb may be represented by " John Woodvil," 
a tragedy; sonnets, "Farewell to Tobacco," and "Lines to 
Helen." 

REFERENCES FOR THE STUDENT. 

Blackwood's Magazine. 

British Quarterly Review, 1861, 

Bulwer : Prose Works. 

De Quincey : Literary Remains. 

Edinburgh Review, 1837. 

Fitzgerald : C. Lamb and his Friends. 

Hazlitt: Dramatic Literature. 

Procter : C. Lamb ; a Memoir. 

Stedman : Victorian Poets. 

Talf ourd : Sketch of Lamb's Life. 

Hazlitt. 

William Hazlitt, the son of a minister in Shropshire, 
was born in 1778, and was educated at the college at 
Hackley. He began life as an artist, but failed to satisfy 
himself, although his efforts were commended by his friends. 
Beginning his career as a Parliamentary reporter, he soon 
became a contributor to the reviews and magazines, and 
speedily won a fixed position among literary men, a posi- 
tion which has been even more clearly defined since his 
death in 1830. The works upon which Hazlitt's fame now 
rests are his criticisms of general literature. With these 
it behooves every one to become acquainted; their titles 



166 ENGLISH AND AMERICAN LITERATURE. 

are, " Character of Shakespeare's Plays," " Lectures on 
English Poetry," " Lectures on the Dramatic Literature of 
Elizabeth," " Lectures on the English Comic Writers," 
" The Spirit of the Age." 

Hazlitt's excellences and defects as a critical writer are 
quite forcibly and fairly stated by Christopher North, who 
says : " We are not apt to imbibe half opinions, or to 
express them by halves ; we shall, therefore, say at once, 
that when Mr. Hazlitt's taste and judgment are left to 
themselves, we think him among the best, if not the very 
best, living critic on our national literature. . . . As we 
have not scrupled to declare that we think Mr. Hazlitt is 
sometimes the very best living critic, we shall venture one 
step farther, and add that we think that sometimes he is 
the very worst. One would suppose that he had a personal 
quarrel with all living writers, good, bad, and indifferent. 
In fact, he seems to know little about them, and to care 
less. With him to be alive is not only a fault in itself, but 
it includes all other possible faults. He seems to consider 
life as a disease, and death as your only doctor. He 
reverses the proverb, and thinks that a dead ass is better 
than a living lion. * In his eyes, death, like charity, ' cov- 
ereth a multitude of sins.' In short, if you want his 
praise, you must die for it; and when such praise is 
deserved and given con amore, 1 it is almost worth dying for." 

REFERENCES FOR THE STUDENT. 

Shepard: Enchiridion of Style. 
Stoddard : Bric-a-Brac Series. 
Talfourd : Edinburgh Revieiv, Vol. 28. 
Whipple : Essays and Reviews. 
Wilson, John : Blackwood's Magazine. 

1 With his whole heart. 



sixth era : from cowper to present time. 167 

Hood. 

Thomas Hood was born in 1798, and died in 1845. In 
his " Literary Reminiscences," Hood says : " There is 
something vastly nattering in appropriating half of a 
quarter of a century, in mixing it up with your personal 
experience, and then serving it out as your own life and 
times. On casting a retrospective glance, however, across 
memory's waste, it appears so literally a waste that vanity 
herself shrank from the enclosure act as an unpromising 
speculation. Had I seen, indeed, some five and thirty 
years ago, that such a demand would be made upon me, I 
might have laid myself out on purpose, as Dr. Watts rec- 
ommends, so as ' to give of every day some good account at 
last ' ! I would have lived like a Frenchman, for effect, and 
made my life a long dress-rehearsal for the future biography. 
I would have cultivated incidents pour-servir, 1 laid traps for 
adventures, and illustrated my memory, like Rogers, by a 
brilliant series of tableaux. The earlier of my seven 
stages should have been more Wonder, Phenomenon, 
Comet, and Balloon-like, or have been timed to a more 
Quicksilver pace than they have been ; in short my life, 
according to the Tradesman's Promise, should have been 
1 fully equal to bespoke ! ' Thus my birth was neither so 
humble that like John Jones I have been obliged amongst 
my lays to lay the cloth, and to court the cook and the nurses 
at the same time ; nor yet so lofty that, with a certain lady 
of title, I could not write without letting myself down. 
Then for education, though on the one hand I have not 
taken my degree with Blucher ; yet on the other, I have 
not been rusticated at the open air school like the poet 

1 To serve my purpose. 



168 ENGLISH AND AMERICAN LITERATURE. 

of Helpstone. 1 The stream of Time has flowed on with 
me very like that of New River which everybody knows has 
so little romance about it, that its head has never troubled 
us with a tail." 

Hood's works are the " Plea of the Midsummer Fairies," 
" Hero and Leander," " Miss Killmansegg," " Song of the 
Shirt," "The Bridge of Sighs," "The Lady's Dream," 
" The Dream of Eugene Aram," " The Haunted House," 
" Whims and Oddities," and" Hood's Own." 

He had a portion of almost every gift belonging to a 
true poet, and but for restricted health and fortune, 
would have maintained a higher standard. His sympa- 
thetic instinct was especially tender and alert ; he was the 
poet of the heart, and sound at heart himself, — the poet of 
human sentiment, clarified by a living spring of humor, 
which kept it from any taint of sentimentalism. To read 
his pages is to laugh and weep by turns ; to take on human 
charity ; to regard the earth mournfully, yet to be thankful, 
as he was, for what sunshine falls- upon it, and to accept 
manfully, as he did, each one's condition, however toilsome 
and suffering, under the changeless law that impels and 
governs all. Even his artistic weaknesses (and he had no 
other) were frolicsome and endearing. Much of his verse 
was the poetry of the beautiful, in a direction opposite to 
that of the metaphysical kind. His humor — not his 
jaded humor, the pack-horse of daily task-work, but his 
humor at its best, which so lightened his pack of ills and 
sorrows, and made all England know him — was the mer- 
riment of hamlets and hostels around the skirts of Parnassus 
where not the gods, but earth's common children hold their 
gala-days within the shadow. Lastly, his severer lyrical 

1 Glare. 



SIXTH ERA : FROM COWPER TO PRESENT TIME. 169 

faculty was musical and sweet ; its product is as refined as 
the most exacting need require, and keeps more uniformly 
than other modern poetry to the idiomatic measures of 
English song. His ballads are full of grace, simplicity, 
pathos, and spirit. 

" Hood's odes and addresses, his comic diversion in the 
London Magazine, and the pronounced success of whims 
and oddities, gave him a notoriety as a fun-maker, and 
doomed him either to starve or to grimace for the national 
amusement during the twenty after years of his toiling, 
pathetic life. The British will always have their Samson 
out of the prison house to make them sport. Tickle the 
ribs of those spleen-devoured idlers or workers, in London 
and a score of dingy cities ; dispel for a moment the insular 
melancholy ; and you may command the pence of the poor, 
and the patronage, if you choose, of the rich and titled. 
But at what a sacrifice ! The mask of more than one 
Merryman has hidden a death's head ; his path has been 
slanted to the tomb, though strewn with tinsel taffeta roses, 
and garish with all the cressets of the circus ring. What- 
ever Hood might essay, the public was stoically expecting 
a quip or a jest. These were kindly given though often 
poor as the health and fortunes of the jester ; and it is no 
marvel, that, under the prolonged draughts of 'Hood's 
Own ' and the ' Comic Annuals ' the beery mirth ran 
swipes." 

His more careful poetry is marked by natural melody, 
simplicity, and directness of language, and is so noticeable 
rather for sweetness than imaginative fire. There are no 
strained and affected cadences in his songs. Their diction 
is so clear that the expression of the thought has no resist- 
ing medium — a high excellence in ballad-verse. With 



170 ENGLISH AND AMERICAN LITERATURE. 

respect to their sentiment, all must admire trie absolute 
health of Hood's poetry written during years of prostration 
and disease. He warbled cheering and trusting music, 
either as a foil to personal distress — which would have 
been quite too much to bear had he encountered its echo 
in his own voice, — or else through a manly resolve that, 
come what might, he would have nothing to do with the 
poetry of despair. The man's humor also buoyed him up, 
and thus was its own exceeding great reward. 

REFERENCES FOR THE STUDENTS. 

Home : New Spirit of the Age. 
Sheppard : The Enchiridion of Style. 
Stedman : Victorian Poets. 
Whipple : Essays and Reviews. 



Croly. 

George Croly, a voluminous writer, was born in Dublin 
in 1780, and during the sixty years of his life, he achieved 
distinction as a pulpit orator, as a writer upon theological 
subjects, and by writings of a purely literary character. 
Croly's tragedy of "Catiline," the romance entitled 
" Salathiel, " " Political Life of the Right Hon. Edmund 
Burke," and "Historical Sketches, Speeches, and Char- 
acters," may represent the most enduring of his literary 
efforts. 

REFERENCES FOR THE STUDENT. 

Campbell : British Poets. 
Gilfillan: Literary Portraits. 
Hazlitt. 



sixth era : from cowper to present time. 171 

Alison. 

Sir Archibald Alison was the son of the Rev. Archi- 
bald Alison, and was born in Kenley, in 1792, and died in 
1867. Alison wrote the " Principles of the Criminal Law," 
and the "Practice of the Criminal Law" — works in high 
esteem in Scotland ; bnt his literary reputation rests upon 
his " History of Europe " from the commencement of the 
French Revolution to the restoration of the Bourbons, and 
from 1815 to 1852, which has been translated into French, 
German, Hindostanee, and Arabic. In some chapters of 
his history, and in his essays are to be found his literary 
criticisms. 

Of his history it has been said : "It is on the whole a 
valuable addition to European literature. Its defects are 
matters partly of taste, and partly of political opinion. Its 
merits are minuteness and honesty — qualities which may 
well excuse a faulty style, gross political prejudices, and a 
fondness for exaggerated and frothy declamation. His 
narrative steers judicially between conflicting accounts, and 
combines the most probable and consistent particulars con- 
tained in each. His general style is not attractive. It 
is not, however, at least in the narrative parts of it, either 
feeble or displeasing. Its principal defect is the cum- 
brous and unwieldy construction of its sentences, which 
frequently causes them to appear slovenly and obscure, 
and sometimes renders their precise meaning doubtful." 

REFERENCES FOR THE STUDENT. 

Edinburgh, Review, Oct. 1842. 
Blackwood's, July, 1840. 
Allibone : Dictionary of Authors. 



172 ENGLISH AND AMERICAN LITERATURE. 

RUSEIN. 

John Ruskin was born in London (1819), and was 
educated at the University of Oxford, where he after- 
wards became professor of art. Mr. Ruskin is generally 
known as an art critic, and of his merits there are the 
various opinions that are commonly entertained before one 
has established his position as the representative of the 
effort which has called forth his best endeavors. Our 
concern with Mr. Ruskin is mainly confined to his effective 
style ; we are to consider him as a writer, rather than as one 
skilled in the fine arts. Mr. Ruskin is still in the midst 
of an active career, and has already published some forty 
volumes. Of these it will be sufficient to name "Modern 
Painters," "The Seven Lamps of Architecture," "The 
Stones of Venice," " The Ethics of the Dust," and "Lectures 
on Architecture." 

"Unquestionably, one of the most remarkable men of 
this — may we not say of any — age is Mr. Ruskin. He 
is, if you like, not seldom dogmatic, self-contradictory, 
arrogant, conceited, and absurd ; but he is a great and won- 
derful writer. He has created a new literature — the litera- 
ture of art. In the fulfilment of his glorious mission, Mr. 
Ruskin has been assisted by a style singularly clear, rich, 
and powerful. Every inventor of a new philosophy has in 
some sort to invent a new vocabulary ; and Mr. Ruskin's 
perfect command of language has enabled him to do this 
with extraordinary success." 

REFERENCES FOR THE STUDENT. 

Allibone : Dictionary of Authors. 
Bayne : Essays. 
Blackwood's Magazine, 1840. 



SIXTH ERA: FROM CO WPER TO PRESENT TIME. 173 

Edinburgh Review, 1842. 

Mitford, Mary R. : Literary Recollections. 

Ruskin: Praeterito. 

Scherr : History of English Literature. 

Tuckerman H. T. : Month in England. 

Froude. 

James Anthony Froude was born in 1818, was thor- 
oughly educated at Oxford University, entered the minis- 
try, but subsequently devoted himself to literary pursuits. 

Of his writings, we may mention " The History of Eng- 
land from the Fall of Wolsey to the Defeat of the Spanish 
Armada"; three sets of Essays called "Short Studies on 
Great Subjects " and his "History of Ireland." 

Froude differs from other writers of English history in 
the view which he takes of the character of Henry VIII. 
Chambers cites this judgment of Froude: "He rivals 
Macaulay in research and statistical knowledge. His 
history is a work of sterling merit, although conceded in 
the spirit of a special pleader. The object of the author 
is to vindicate the character of Henry VIII., and to depict 
the actual condition, the contentment, and loyalty of the 
people during his reign." 

REFERENCES FOR THE STUDENT. 

British Quarterly Review, 1864. 

Chamber's Cyclopaedia of English Literature. 

Dallas : The Gay Science. 

Edinburgh Review, 1858, 1864, 1866. 

Frazer's Magazine, 1840, 1856, 1858, 1860. 

London Quarterly Review, 1863. 

Macaulay: Essays. 

North British Review, 1856. 

Shepard : Enchiridion of Style. 



174 ENGLISH AND AMEEICAN LITERATURE. 

TOPICAL RESUME. 

(CHAPTER VII.) 

The Sixth Era — dates and authors used to mark its limits. 

History of language and literary influences. 

History of German influence. 

Illustrate the use of the phrase, — schools of poetry. 

Explain and illustrate the forms of prose fiction. 

Time, services, and memorabilia of Cowper's contemporaries 
and successors : Mrs Hemans, Montgomery, Rogers, Wolfe, — poets ; 
Brougham, Buckle, Jerrold, Lockhart, Mackintosh, Palgrave, Reade, 
Russell, Smith, Talfourd, Turner, Wilson, — writers in prose. 

Services, characteristics, and sketch of Mrs. Browning, Browning, 
Burns, Byron, Coleridge, Cowper, Keats, Shelley, Tennyson, Words- 
worth, — poets ; Bulwer, Carlyle, De Quincey, Dickens, George 
Eliot, Grote, Hallam, Macaulay, Scott, Thackeray, — writers in 
prose; Campbell, Croly, Hood, Moore, Southey, — poets; Alison, 
Froude, Hazlitt, Jeffrey. Lamb, Lingard, Ruskin, — writers in prose. 



PART IL; 

AMERICAN AUTHORS. 



PAET II. 



AMERICAN LITERATURE. 



CHAPTER VIII. 

POETS OF AMERICA. 

Although our own country has as yet produced no 
rival of the great British poets, yet, in spite of the indus- 
trial character of her daily life, there have been found 
among her sons and daughters many highly gifted with 
the power of song. And even among her humbler poets 
there are a great number whose verses show true poetical 
inspiration. 

It is difficult to separate our feelings of patriotism from 
the strictly critical spirit which must pronounce upon the 
merits of writings as such. A Bryant, a Longfellow, a 
Poe, a Whittier, are identified with the life which we our- 
selves are leading, and we cannot exclude this feeling of 
personality so as to pronounce upon the success of their 
poetry as in the case of British authors. Our American 
writers are dear to us as friends, and their appeals are 
made to our sympathies, as both theme and treatment 
seem to touch our own experience. 

In the " Village Blacksmith," " Thanatopsis," and 
" Skipper Ireson," the feelings, interests, and actions of 
ordinary persons like ourselves are portrayed ; and, while 
their lives may lack that divinity which doth hedge about 
a king, we have the enjoyment of an individual participancy 

177 



178 ENGLISH AND AMERICAN LITERATURE. 

which we cannot gain from a Lear or a Hamlet. The 
writers are, like ourselves, Americans, and draw their 
inspirations from the same pains and pleasures, griefs and 
felicities, as form the substance of our own lives, and 
hence have with us the common bond of the same inter- 
ests and surroundings. 

Therefore, in entering upon the study of their works, 
we must be on our guard lest a tenderness of friendly feel- 
ing take the place of strict and impartial criticism. 

Thus fortified against a partial judgment of our Ameri- 
can authors, we commence a study that will yield abun- 
dant profit and abiding satisfaction. 

The growth and development of American literature 
have been slow and gradual, as the poverty and privation 
of a new life would necessitate. Pioneering a new civili- 
zation tends to develop strength of body and character, 
but does not encourage literary attainments. 

The day of privation and struggle gave way to one of 
comparative wealth and ease. Literature began to develop, 
and so rapid has been its growth that we now have open 
to us a field of study and investigation that cannot fail to 
furnish both instruction and inspiration. 

In the following pages the author gives not only his own 
conclusions, but the estimate of contemporaries, biogra- 
phers, and readers regarding a writer's work and place in 
history, with their criticisms and judgment of Iris pro- 
ductions. 

Bryant. 

William Cullen Bryant was born at Cummington, Mas- 
sachusetts, 1794. After two years in Williams College, he 
studied law, and was admitted to the bar in 1815. During 



POETS OF AMERICA. 179 

the next ten years, lie pnrsned successfully his career as a 
lawyer, and then, removing to New York, became a jour- 
nalist. From the early age of ten years, Mr. Bryant 
published poems ; in this respect, as well as in his desertion 
of law for literature, he resembled Longfellow. As editor 
of the New York Evening Post, Mr. Bryant, till the day 
of his death (1879), used his efforts to serve what he 
regarded as the best interests of his country. Bryant's 
translation of Homer at once replaced the numberless 
efforts of other translators. 

Bryant appears as an editor of " The Library of Poetry 
and Song," and of a " History of the United States." Of 
his poems, " Thanatopsis," written when he was seventeen 
years of age, remains the popular favorite. In his "Li- 
brary of Poetry and Song," Mr. Bryant offers as his own 
selection from his poems : — 

America, The Battle-Field, Blessed are they that mourn, The 
Crowded Street, The Death of the Flowers, The Evening Wind, 
Fatima and Raduan, A Forest Hymn, To the Fringed Gentian, The 
Hurricane, A Hymn of the Sea, The Mother's Hymn, My Autumn 
Walk, The Planting of the Apple-Tree, Robert of Lincoln, Sella 1 s Fairy 
Slippers, The Siesta, The Snow Shower, Song of Marion's Men, 
Thanatopsis, Thou hast put all things under his feet, and To a 
Waterfowl. 

Emerson's selection is as follows: Death of the Flowers, Song of 
the Stars, Thanatopsis, The Murdered Traveller, The Old Man's 
Funeral, The Rivulet, To a Waterfowl, To the Fringed Gentian. 

Dana gives : To a Waterfowl, The Fringed Gentian, The Death of 
the Flowers, Hunter of the Prairies, The Evening Wind, Burial of 
Marion's Men, Battle-Field, O Mother of a Mighty Race. 

Stedman dwells upon : The Ages, A Forest Hymn, The Evening 
Wind, A Day Dream, To a Waterfowl, The Post, Thanatopsis, A 
Winter Piece, Inscription for the Entrance to a Wood, A Forest 
Hymn, Summer Wind, The Prairies, The Fountain, A Hymn of the 
Sea, A Rain-Dream, The Constellations, The River by Night, Among 



180 ENGLISH AND AMERICAN LITERATURE. 

the Trees, Hymn to Death, Earth, An Evening Revery, The Antiquity 
of Freedom, The Flood of Years, Life, The Battle-Field, The Future 
Life, The Conqueror's Grave, June, The Death of the Flowers, Song 
of Marion's Men, The Hunter of the Prairies, The Planting of the 
Apple-Tree, Snow Shower, Robert of Lincoln, Sella, The Little People 
of the Snow, The Death of Slavery. 

The chronology of Bryant's publications is as follows : — 

1807. Translations of Latin Poems. 

1808. The Embargo, The Spanish Revolution, and other poems. 
1819. Thanatopsis. 

1821. The Ages. 

1834, 1845, 1849. Letters of a Traveller. 

1842. The Fountain, and other poems. 

1844. The White-footed Deer, and other poems. 

1870, 1871. Homer's Iliad and Homer's Odyssey. 

1872. Little People of the Snow. 

1873. Orations, addresses, essays. 

1874. Among the Trees. 

1877. History of the United States. 

Christopher North says that "Thanatopsis," alone, 
would establish a claim to genius. 

REFERENCES FOR THE STUDENT. 

Cleveland : American Literature. 
Griswold : Poets and Poetry of America. 
Taylor : Critical Essays. 
Whipple : Literature and Life. 
Appleton's Dictionary of American Biography. 
Chambers's Cyclopedia of English Literature. 
Drake's Dictionary of American Biography. 
Lippincott's Biographical Dictionary. 

Longfellow. 

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow was born in Portland, 
Maine, 1807, graduated at Bowdoin College, 1825, and soon 
afterwards became professor of modern languages and litera- 



POETS OF AMERICA. 181 

ture in that institution. From 1826 to 1830 he travelled in 
France, Germany, Italy, and Spain, and from 1835 to 1854 
he held the professorship of modern languages and belles- 
lettres in Harvard College. At an early age he published 
various poems, "The Moravian Nuns," for example. In 
the direction of fiction, Mr. Longfellow published " Hype- 
rion " and " Kavanagh/' As a translation, his " Dante " 
gives him high rank. 

His " Poets and Poetry of Europe " exhibits the same 
facility and fidelity, while it illustrates his extensive schol- 
arship. Longfellow is confessedly the most scholarly of 
American poets, and is distinguished especially for the 
melody of his versification, and his thorough acquaintance 
with his themes. Many of his minor poems derive their 
popularity from their sentiment. His poems have become 
household words, and he has succeeded in expressing ade- 
quately the sentiments which the readers of American 
poetry were ready to welcome. 

The chronology of Longfellow's works, based in all but 
one or two cases upon the time of composition, is as 
follows : — 

1825. The Burial of the Minnisink; Spirit of Poetry; Hymn of 
the Moravian Nuns. 

Before 1826. Translation from the Italian; Autumn; The Woods 
in Winter ; Sunrise on the Hills. 

1832. Translation from the Spanish. 

1835. Outre-Mer. 

1836. Translation from the German. 

1837. Flowers. 

1838. Psalm of Life ; The Reaper ; The Light of Stars, Frag- 
ments ; Translation from Anglo-Saxon. 

1839. Voices of the Night ; Hymn to Night ; Footsteps of Angels ; 
The Beleaguered City; Midnight Mass for the Dying Year; The 
Village Blacksmith ; Translation from the French ; Hyperion. 



182 ENGLISH AND AMERICAN LITERATURE. 

1840. The Spanish Student. 

1841. Skeleton in Armor; Wreck of the Hesperus; Endymion ; 
It is not always May; The Rainy Day; God's Acre; The River 
Charles ; Blind Bartimeus ; The Goblet of Life ; Translations from 
Swedish and Danish. 

1842. Maidenhood ; Excelsior ; To Channing ; The Slave's Dream ; 
The Good Part; The Slave singing at Midnight; Witnesses; The 
Warning; Mezzo Cammin. 

1843. Arsenal at Springfield; Poets and Poetry of Europe; 
Translation from the Portuguese. 

1844. Nuremberg ; The Norman Baron ; The Day is done. 

1845. Belfry of Bruges; Rain in Summer ; To a Child; Occupa- 
tion of Orion ; The Bridge ; The Driving Cloud ; Afternoon in Feb- 
ruary ; To an Old Danish Song-Book ; Walter von der Vogelweid ; 
Drinking Song ; The Old Clock on the Stairs ; The Arrow and the 
Song; The Evening Star; Seaweed; Chrysaor; The Secret of the 
Sea; Twilight; Evangeline. 

1846. A Gleam of Sunshine; The Builders; Sand of the Desert; 
Pegasus in Pound. 

1847. Tegner's Drapa ; Fragments. 

1848. Sir Humphrey Gilbert; By the Fireside; King Witlafs 
Drinking Horn ; The Castle Builder. 

1849. Kavanagh; The Building of the Ship; The Lighthouse; 
The Fire of Driftwood; The Open Window ; Gaspar Becerra; Mrs. 
Kemble ; The Singers ; Hymn for my Brother's Ordination ; Suspiria ; 
Children ; Brook and Wave. 

1850. The Phantom Ship ; Fragments. 

1852. The Warden of the Cinque Ports ; Haunted Houses ; Jew- 
ish Cemetery at Newport ; Oliver Basselin. 

1853. In the Churchyard at Cambridge; The Emperor's Bird's 
Nest. 

1854. The Two Angels; Daylight and Moonlight; The Rope- 
Walk; The Golden Mile-Stone ; Catawba Wine. 

1855. Hiawatha ; Victor Galbraith ; My Lost Youth. 

1857. Saint Filomena ; Discovery of the North Cape ; Daybreak; 
Agassiz's Anniversary ; Sandalphon. 

1858. Miles Standish; Birds of Passage; Prometheus; Epime- 
theus ; Ladder of St. Augustine ; Changed. 



POETS OF AMERICA. 183 

1859. Bells of Lynn; Enceladus. 

1860. Paul Revere's Ride. 

1863. The Cumberland ; The Snownake ; Something left undone ; 
Weariness ; The Children's Hour ; Tales of a Wayside Inn. 

1864. Palingenesis ; Bridge of Cloud ; Hawthorne , Christmas 
Bells ; Wind over the Chimney ; Divina Commedia. 

1866. Flower-de-Luce ; Killed at the Ford ; Giotto's Tower; To- 
morrow. 

1867. Noel. 

1870. The Meeting; Fata Morgana; Vox Populi; Translations 
from the Persian and the Latin. 

1872. Judas Maccabseus, 

1873. The Haunted Chamber ; The Challenge; Aftermath; Son- 
nets ; Christus. 

1874. Travels by the Fireside ; Cadenabbia ; Monte Cassino ; The 
Hanging of the Crane; Morituri Salutamus ; Sonnets; Autumn 
Within; Poems of Places. 

1875. Amalfi; Sermon of St. Francis ; Belisarius ; Congo River; 
The Masque of Pandora; Sonnets. 

1876. The Four Lakes of Madison; Victor and Vanquished; 
Charles Sumner. 

1877. Cross of Snow; Keramos. 

1878. Elmwood; A Dutch Picture; Castles in Spain; Vittoria 
Colonna ; Revenge of Rain in the Fall ; The Emperor's Glove ; A 
Ballad of the French Fleet; Leap of Roushan Beg; Haroun al 
Raschid ; King Trisanku ; A Wraith in the Mist ; The Three Kings ; 
Song; The White Czar; Delia; Bayard Taylor; From my Arm- 
Chair; Moonlight; Chamber over the Gate. 

1878-1881. The Poet's Calendar. 

1879. The Children's Crusade; Chimes; Sundown; Jugurtha; 
The Iron Pen ; Robert Burns ; Helen of Tyre ; Elegiac ; The Sifting 
of Peter ; The Tide rises, the Tide falls ; My Cathedral ; Burial of 
the Poet; Night. 

1880. Ultima Thule ; Old St. David's at Radnor ; Windmill ; Maiden 
and Weathercock ; The Poet and his Songs ; Four by the Clock. 

1881. Auf Wiedersehen; Memories; Elegiac Verse; Hermes 
Trismegistus ; The City and the Sea ; To the Avon ; President Gar- 
field; My Books. 



184 ENGLISH AND AMERICAN LITERATURE. 

1882. Mad River; Possibilities; Decoration Day; A Fragment; 
Loss and Gain ; Bells of San Bias ; In the Harbor. 

1883. Michael Angelo. 

Bryant cites as the best of Longfellow's poems: Carillon, The 
Children's Hour, Daybreak, Divina Commedia, Evangeline, In the 
Prairie, Footsteps of Angels, God's Acre, Hymn to the Night, 
Maidenhood, Peace in Acadie, Prelude, A Psalm of Life, Rain in 
Summer, The Reaper and the Flowers, Resignation, Retribution, 
Seaweed, Snowflakes, The Village Blacksmith. 

Emerson selects as his preference : Life, Santa Filomena, The 
Birds of Killingworth, The Children's Hour, The Cumberland, The 
Warden of the Cinque Ports, To Agassiz on his Fiftieth Birthday. 

A. F. Blaisdell, in his Outlines, mentions especially: The Wreck 
of the Hesperus, Village Blacksmith, The Norman Baron, The Old 
Clock on the Stairs, Building of the Ship, Sir Humphrey Gilbert, 
The Lighthouse, The Fire of Driftwood, The Phantom Ship, The 
Cumberland, Paul Revere's Ride, Lady Wentworth, Elizabeth, The 
Monk's Vision, Psalm of Life, Resignation, Rainy Day, The Two 
Angels, Something left undone. 

Dana's selections from Longfellow are : The Flowers, Rain in 
Summer, Twilight, Seaweed, Woods in Winter, Afternoon in Feb- 
ruary, The Open Window, The Fire of Driftwood, Excelsior, The 
Wreck of the Hesperus, The Warden of the Cinque Ports, The Vil- 
lage Blacksmith, Arsenal at Springfield, The Light of Stars, The 
Slave singing at Midnight, The Psalm of Life, The Footsteps of 
Angels. 

Stedman especially praises : Voices of the Night, The Day is done, 
The Bridge, Twilight, The Reaper, The Psalm of Life, The Be- 
leaguered City, The Midnight Mass for the Dying Year, Excelsior, 
Prometheus, The Ladder of St. Augustine, The Reaper and the 
Flowers, Footsteps of Angels, Maidenhood, Resignation, Haunted 
Houses, The Fire of Driftwood, The Lighthouse, Land of the 
Desert, The Jewish Cemetery, The Arsenal, The Bells of Lynn, The 
Tide rises, the Tide falls, Curfew, The Arrow and the Song, The 
Quadroon Girl, Sir Humphrey Gilbert, The Spanish Jew's Tale, The 
Skeleton in Armor, The Wreck of the Hesperus, Victor Galbraith, 
The Cumberland, The Two Angels, Hawthorne, Bayard Taylor, 
Killed at the Ford, The Warden of the Cinque Ports, Rain in Sum- 



POETS OF AMERICA. 185 

mer, To a Child, The Building of the Ship, The Saga of King Olaf , 
Enceladus, Belisarius, The Chamber over the Gate, Helen of Tyre, 
The Children's Hour, My Lost Youth, Evangeline, Miles Standish, 
Hiawatha, The Spanish Student, Pandora, Cloisters, The Divine 
Tragedy, The New England Tragedies, The Golden Legend, Kera- 
mos, The Hanging of the Crane, Morituri Salutamus, The Old 
Clock, The Village Blacksmith. 

James Russell Lowell characterizes Longfellow thus : 
" Purity of tone, tenderness, picturesque simplicity." 

George William Curtis says : " His poetry expresses a 
universal sentiment in the simplest and most melodious 
manner." 

REFERENCES FOR THE STUDENT. 

Allibone : Dictionary of English Authors. 

Cleveland : American Literature. 

Curtis : Homes of American Authors. 

Fuller : Papers on Literature and Art. 

Griswold : Poets and Poetry of America. 

Taylor : Critical Essays. 

Tyler : History of American Literature. 

Whipple : Essays and Reviews. 

Appleton's Dictionary of American Biography. 

Chambers's Cyclopaedia of English Literature. 

Drake's Dictionary of American Biography. 

Lippincott's Biographical Dictionary. * 

Underwood's American Authors. 



POE. 

Edgar Allan Poe was the son of a Revolutionary officer 
of distinction, and was born in Baltimore in 1811. Being 
early left an orphan, he was adopted by John Allan of 
Richmond, who, until Poe was grown, furnished him with 
every advantage. Domestic disagreements terminated this 



186 ENGLISH AND AMERICAN LITERATURE. 

relationship, and Poe's subsequent career was one of trials, 
privations, and error. He died in 1849. 

Poe's life may be summarized by saying that intellectual 
pride and excessive wilfulness led him into difficulties 
from which he never extricated himself. To what extent 
the charges against his habits are true, will never be 
known ; but this does not at all affect the fact that poeti- 
cally he was the most gifted of America's sons. On the 
other hand, the characteristic of wilfulness, rather than that 
of intelligent will, gives color to his literary efforts, which 
are remarkable for their ability rather than valuable for 
their contents. 

Whether or not one is concerned about the interpreta- 
tions of " The Raven," he cannot fail to respond to its 
weirdness of imagination, and the variety and effectiveness 
of its versification. Poe's other poems have been less gen- 
erally popular, but display the same characteristics ; their 
titles are : " Annabel Lee," " The City in the Sea," " The 
Sleeper," "A Dream within a Dream," "Lenore," "The 
Doomed City," " The Valley Ms," " The Valley of Unrest," 
"To Science," "To Helen," "Ulalume," "For Annie," 
"Eulalie." 

The selections made by Bryant are : Annabel Lee, For Annie, The 
Bells, The Baven. Dana gives the same, with the exception of For 
Annie. 

In prose, Poe wrote a number of tales, of which " The 
Gold Bug " is best known. It is safe to say that in 
wealth of imagination, Poe has had no equal unless it be 
Spenser or De Quincey. Poe's " Rationale of Versification " 
has always been a puzzle, as critics have been unable to 
decide whether to regard it as the serious views of a 



POETS OF AMERICA. 187 

competent writer, or as a rhetorical effort similar in kind 
to " The Gold Bug," " Sigeia," " The Fall of the House of 
Uskea," and " Tales from the Grotesque and Arabesque." 

Poe, like De Foe and Chesterfield, has been persecuted 
beyond the grave, and it .is charitable to suppose that 
those who control public opinion have been actuated 
solely by an honest opposition to a writer who presumed 
to disregard their conventions. Poe was at different times 
the editor of The Southern Literary Messenger, and of 
Graham's Magazine. 

James Russell Lowell says that Poe's "heart was 
squeezed out by his mind," and that he was " three-fifths 
genius and two-fifths fudge ! " 

Gilfillan, who dwells upon Poe's power rather than upon 
Poe's defects, says, " His fictions are as matter-of-fact as 
De Foe ; tales as weird and wonderful as Hoffman's ; 
amatory strains trembling with passion, and suffused with 
the purple glow of love. Dirges express the dreariest 
essence of desolation." 

REFERENCES FOR THE STUDENT. 

Griswold : Poets and Poetry of America. 

Lowell : Fable for the Critics. 

Stedman : Poets of America. 

Drake's Dictionary of American Biography. 

Stoddard : Harpefs Magazine, vol. 45. 



Whittier. 

John G-reenleaf Whittier was born in Haverhill, Massa- 
chusetts, 1807. He began life on a farm, but soon com- 
menced literary work. In 1831 he published " Legends of 
New England," and hardly a year has passed without some 



188 ENGLISH AND AMERICAN LITERATURE. 

addition to his contributions to the entertainment of the 
poetical public. 

Emerson's favorites among his poems are : Amy Wentworth, At 
Port Royal, Ichabod, Skipper Ireson's Ride, Telling the Bees, The 
Playmate, What the Birds said. 

Blaisdell selects : Song of the Free, New Hampshire, The Branded 
Hand, The Star of Bethlehem, The Female Martyr, The Frost Spirit, 

My Soul and I, Prisoners for Debt, To , Forgiveness, What 

the Voice said, Lucy Hooper, Charming, A Lament, Gone, Memories, 
To Pius IX., The Wish of To-Day, To A. K., Trust, Burns, The Bare- 
foot Boy, Last Walk in Autumn, Skipper Ireson's Ride, My Playmate, 
Trinitas, Thy Will be Done, Battle Summer of 1862, Cry of a Lost 
Soul, Snow-Bound, Abraham Davenport, To the Thirty-ninth Con- 
gress, The Eternal Goodness, The Clear Vision, In School Days, My 
Triumph, Nauhaught, The Deacon, The Pageant, Chicago, A Woman, 
The Three Bells, Marguerite, Prayer of Agassiz, The Friend's Burial, 
In Quest, A Mystery, Conductor Bradley, Child Song. 

Dana gives : Hampton Beach, Maud Muller, Our State, Ichabod, 
Barclay of Ury, To my Sister, Burns, Seedtime and Harvest. 

Biyant's favorites are: To Her Absent Sailor, The Angel of 
Patience, Barbara Frietchie, Barclay of Ury, The Barefoot Boy, 
Benedicite (from Snow-Bound), Burns, The Farewell, Hampton 
Beach, Ichabod, Indian Summer, Laus Deo, Maud Muller, The 
Meeting, New England in Winter, The Palm-Tree, The Poefs Re- 
ward, The Pumpkin, The Reformer. 

Stedman's favorites are : Voices of Freedom, Randolph of Roanoke, 
Mogg Megone, The Bridal of Pennacook, The Songs of Labor, The 
Old South, The King's Missive, How the Women went from Dere, 
Calef in Boston, The Witch of Uruban, Mary Garvin, Parson Avery, 
John Underbill, Marguerite, The Wreck of Rivermouth. 

The order of Whittier's publications has been : — 

1831. Legend of New England. 

1833. Justice and Expediency. 

1836. Moll Pitcher ; Bridal of Pennacook ; Mogg Megone. 

1838. Ballads. 



POETS OF AMERICA. 189 

1841. Voices of Freedom. 

1843. Lays of my Home. 

1845. The Stranger in Lowell. 

1847. Supematuralism of New England. 

1848. Songs of Labor. 

1849. Leaves from Margaret Smith's Journal. 

1850. Old Portraits and Modern Sketches. 

1852. The Chaplet of the Hermits ; Literary Recreations. 

1853. A Sabbath Scene. 
1856. The Panorama. 
1859. Home Ballads. 
1863. In War Time. 

1865. National Lyrics. 

1866. MaudMuller; Snow-Bound. 

1867. The Tent on the Beach. 

1868. Among the Hills. 

1869. Ballads of New England. 
Child Life. 

1870. Miriam. 

1872. Pennsylvania Pilgrim. 

Whittier is essentially the poet of New England home- 
life, and has endeared himself to New England people by 
adding an ideal beauty to labors so arduous as to need the 
inspiration of a poet to translate them into the realm of 
the heroic and romantic. 

Lowell says that " Whittier is essentially a lyric poet, 
and the fervor of his temperament gives his pieces of that 
kind a remarkable force and effectiveness. His rhymes 
are often faulty beyond the most provincial license of 
Burns himself." 

Hillard's characterization is as follows: "Earnestness 
of tone, high moral purpose, energy of expression, spirit 
of a sincere and fearless reformer, themes drawn largely 
from the history, traditions, manners, and scenery of New 



190 ENGLISH AND AMERICAN LITERATURE, 

England. Describes natural scenery correctly and beauti- 
fully, and has a vein of tenderness." 

REFERENCES FOR THE STUDENT. 

Miss Mitford : Recollections of a Literary Life. 
Lowell : Fable for the Critics. 
Stedman : Poets of America. 
Whipple : Essays and Reviews. 
Allibone's Dictionary of English Authors. 
Drake's Dictionary of American Biography. 



Holmes. 

Oliver Wendell Holmes has cultivated literature suc- 
cessfully while attaining eminence in the medical profession. 
He is another of the gifted sons of Cambridge, Massachu- 
setts, having been born in that beautiful town in 1809. 
Dr. Holmes has become the recognized poetical autocrat of 
Boston's public gatherings, and such occasions, as well as 
the annual commencements of Harvard College, never 
find him unready to provide a feast of wit and humor. 
His prose essays, " The Autocrat of the Breakfast Table," 
" The Professor at the Breakfast Table," " The Poet at the 
Breakfast Table," and "Soundings from the Atlantic," 
marked a literary epoch, and remain a valued part of 
our household literature. In the direction of fiction, Dr. 
Holmes has published "*Elsie Venner." 

His " Mechanism in Thought and Morals " is a mono- 
graph which is to be read for its interest, rather than 
accepted for its scientific validity. To the literature of 
the medical profession, Dr. Holmes has been a frequent and 
valued contributor, but his work in this direction is aside 
from the limits of this book. 



POETS OF AMEBIC A. 191 

Bryantfs selections will doubtless be known to many students 
through their school-readers : The Comet, Contentment, Evening, 
Hymn of Peace, Katydid, The Last Leaf, Ode for a Social Meeting, 
The One Hoss Shay, The Ploughman, Questions and Answers, and 
Under the Violets. 

Dana's preferences are for : The Old Constitution, The Steam- 
boat, The Last Leaf, The Crowded Street, Contentment, Dorothy Q., 
Never or Now, Old Ironsides, Rudolph the Headsman, One Hoss 
Shay, To George Peabody. 

Stedman adds : The Meeting of the Dryads, My Aunt, The 
Dilemma, Parson TureH's Legacy, How the Old Horse Won the Bet, 
The Living Temple, The Chambered Nautilus. 

The dates of the publication of Dr. Holmes's chief works 
are: — 

1857. Autocrat of the Breakfast Table. 

1861. The Professor at the Breakfast Table; The Poet at the 
Breakfast Table ; Elsie Venner. 

1864. Songs in Many Keys ; Soundings from the Atlantic. 

1868. The Guardian Angel. 

1870. Mechanism in Thought and Morals. 

Tuckerman calls Mr. Holmes " the most concise, apt, 
and effective poet of the school of Pope, this country has 
ever produced." 

Whittier says : " Long may he live to make broader the 
face of our care-ridden generation, and to realize for him- 
self the truth of the wise man's declaration that a merry 
heart is a continual feast." 

Lowell. 

James Russell Lowell was born in Cambridge, Massa- 
chusetts, in 1819, and has achieved distinction as an essay- 
ist, a poet, a speaker, a humorist, a lecturer, and as a 
" scholar in politics." 



192 ENGLISH AND AMERICAN LITERATURE. 

He entered the Cambridge Law School after graduating 
from Harvard College, and upon the completion of his 
course he was admitted to the practice of the bar. But, 
like many of the greater writers of English, Mr. Lowell 
found literature more attractive than law. 

In 1841 he published a volume of poems, and in 1844 fol- 
lowed this by another. In 1848 his "Vision of Sir Laun- 
fal," — which has now been a favorite for forty years, — 
and the " Biglow Papers," appeared. To this year belongs 
also his " Fable for Critics," an exceedingly happy satire 
upon the most prominent American poets. 

In 1855 he accepted the professorship of modern lan- 
guages and belles-lettres in Harvard College. 

In 1857 Mr. Lowell assumed the editorial charge of 
The Atlantic Monthly, and continued in this position until 
1862. Subsequently, he became the editor of the old North 
American Review — an enterprise growing out of the most 
generous admiration for solid learning, and one which 
stands among the most powerful of the creative influences 
of American literature. During this period and up to the 
present, Mr. Lowell has been a frequent and welcome con- 
tributor to our leading magazines, besides publishing, in 
book form, various collections of poems and essays. 

It has been said that Emerson was the intellectual eman- 
cipator of America : it may quite as truly be asserted that 
Mr. Lowell has been its literary educator, and that he has 
both given direction to this intellectual freedom and, by 
furnishing an acceptable standard of literary merit, illus- 
trated its proper employment. 

Both series of Mr. Lowell's " ' Biglow Papers ' illustrate 
the wit and humor which are characteristic of New Eng- 
land ; " but although these qualities form the attraction to 



POETS OF AMERICA. 193 

the reader of the present day, the political effectiveness of 
the " Biglow Papers " makes them an imperishable portion 
of our national history. 

In the direction of prose essays, Mr. Lowell has published 
two series of "Among My Books" (1870, 18T6), and 
" My Study Windows" (1870). These display profound 
scholarship, critical acumen, and a power of popular pres- 
entation which are as uncommon as the peculiarly Chau- 
cerian flavor, sanity, and healthfulness which have been 
manifested by no other writer of English. 

Of Mr. Lowell's poems Bryant selects: 1. Abraham Lincoln; 2. 
Auf Wiedersehen ; 3. The Courtin'; 4. The First Snowfall; 5. To 
H. W. L. ; 6. Rhoecus; 7. Summer Storm; 8. What Mr. Robinson 
Thinks ; 9. Winter's Evening ; 10. Hymn to my Fire ; 11. Yussouf . 

Dana prefers : The Fountain, To the Dandelion, The Birch-Tree, 
To the Pine-Tree, She Came and Went, My Love, Hebe. He, how- 
ever, includes numbers 6, 7, 8 of Bryant's selections. 

Emerson's favorites were : Beaver Brook, Commemoration Ode, 
Jonathan to John, Mason and Slidell, Origin of Didactic Poetry, 
Sunthin' in the Pastoral Line, The Washers of the Shroud. He also 
includes number 3 of Bryant's choice. 

Stedman dwells especially upon The Heritage, Legend of Brit- 
tany, Studies for Two Heads, The Changeling, She Came and Went, 
The First Snowfall, The Shepherd of Admetus, An Incident in a 
Railway Car, Hebe, The Indian Summer, Reverie, The Pine-Tree, The 
Birch-Tree, The Dandelion, The Vision of Sir Launfal, Centennial 
Ode, The Cathedral. 

It is safe to say that all will enjoy an acquaintance with 
Mr. Lowell's prose and poetry, and that their enjoyment 
will cause them to read his works rather than selections. 
"Harvard Commemoration Ode," " Al Fresco," "A Summer 
Night," " The Buried Life," " The Fountain of Youth," 
"A Mood," "Palinado," "Auf Wiedersehen," "Under the 



194 ENGLISH AND AMERICAN LITERATURE. 

Willows," " A Fable for Critics," " Heartsease and Rue," 
"The Cathedral," " Three Memorial Poems," "Columbus," 
"Above and Below," "Fireside Travels," "Democracy," 
and other essays, and "Political Essays," will demand 
acquaintance. 

As a writer, Mr. Lowell is distinguished by the fairness 
of his criticism, by his bubbling wit, and by a genial 
humor which seems to be his very atmosphere. 

Chronologically, Mr. Lowell's works have appeared as 
follows : — 

1839. A Poem Recited at Cambridge. 

1841. A Year's Life. 

1843. Essays on the English Song Writers. 

1844. Poems. 

1845. Conversations on some of the old Poets. 

1848. Poems ; Vision of Sir Launfal ; Biglow Papers. 

1856. A Fable for Critics. 

1864. Fireside Travel. 

1869. Under the Willows ; The Cathedral. 

1870. Among my Books. 

1871. My Study Windows. 
1888. Heartsease and Rue. 



Taylor. 

Bayard Taylor was born at Kennett Square, Pennsyl- 
vania, in 1825, and died in 1879. He began life for 
himself at the early age of seventeen, when he became 
apprenticed to a printer. 

In 1844 he published a volume of poems called " Xime- 
na." A tour on foot through Europe (1844-1846) resulted 
in his " Views Afoot." 

In 1848 he published "Rhymes of Travel;" in 1849, 



POETS OF AMERICA. 195 

" El Dorado ; " in 1851, " Book of Romances, Songs, and 
Lyrics.' 

1851-1853, Mr. Taylor travelled fifty thousand miles, 
visiting Spain, Africa, India, China, and Japan. 

1856-8 and 1862-3, he again indulged his taste for 
travel and adventure. 

His other publications were : — 

1848. Ballads and other Poems. 

1850. A Voyage to California, 

1854. Poems of the Orient; The Land of the Saracen. 

1855. Poems of Home and Travel. 

1862. At Home and Abroad ; The Poet's Journal. 

1863. Hannah Thurston. 

1864. John Godfrey's Fortunes. 

1866. The Story of Kennet; Picture of St. John. 

1867. Colorado; Frithiof's Saga; Studies in German Literature. 

1869. The Ballad of Abraham Lincoln ; By-Ways of Europe, 

1870. Faust. 

1872. The Masque of the Gods. 
1874. The Prophet; Home Pastorals. 
1876. Translation of Goethe's Faust. 

Of his poems, Bryant cites : 1. The Arab to the Palm ; 2. Bedouin 
Love Song; 3. The Lute Player ; 4. Possession; 5. The Rose. 

Dana mentions No. 1, and adds: Storm Song, The Phantom, 
Hylas. 

Stedman adds: Calaynos, Kubleh, The Soldier and the Pard, 
Ariel, Sorrowful Music, Ode to Shelley, Sicilian Wine, Tauraus, 
Serapion, The Metempsychosis of the Pine, Moan, ye Wild Winds 
around the Pane, The Temptation of Hassan Ben Khaled, Amran's 
Wooing, The Song of the Camp, John Reid, The Old Pennsylvania 
Farmer, The Quaker Widow, Euphorian Lars, Prince Deukalion. 

Griswold credits Bayard Taylor with " the highest dis- 
tinction in poetry." 

Duyckinck says, " His prose is equable and clear, in the 



196 ENGLISH AND AMERICAN LITER ATUKE. 

flowing style ; the narration of a genial, healthy observer of 
the many manners of the world which he has seen in the 
most remarkable portions of its four quarters." 

Minor Poets. 

Thomas Bailey Aldrich was born in New Hampshire, 
1836. Of his poems, " Ballad of Babie Bell," « The Face 
against the Pane," and " When the Sultan goes to Ispa- 
han," have become general household favorites. In the 
direction of fiction, " The Stillwater Tragedy," and " The 
Queen of Sheba," are well known. Mr. Aldrich has been 
editor of The Home Journal and of The Atlantic Monthly. 

George H. Boker, Philadelphia, 1824, holds high rank 
as a poet, through his " Lesson of Life, and other Poems," 
" Calaynos," " Anne Boleyn," " Leonor de Guzman," 
"Francesca di Rimini," and "The Betrothal." 

The popular favorites among Mr. Boker's poems have 
been " The Black Regiment," " Countess Laura," " Prince 
Adeb," " Dirge for a Soldier." 

Richard H. Dana, Sr., was born in Massachusetts, 1787. 
His most ambitious poem, " The Buccaneer," has been 
highly praised ; but of his minor poems, these have been 
popular favorites: "The Little Beach Bird," "The Soul," 
" Husband and Wife's Grave." 

James Redmond Drake was born in New York, in 1795, 
and died at the early age of twenty-five. His reputation 
rests upon "The Culprit Fay," "To Sarah," and "The 
American Flag." 

Philip Freneau, born in New York, 1752, died in 1832. 
His poems, " The Wild Honeysuckle," and " The Indian 
Death-song," retain their popularity. 



POETS OF AMERICA. 197 

Fitz-G-reene Halleck, Connecticut, 1795-1867, con- 
tinues to be known, even to school-children, through his 
" Marco Bozzaris." Readers of poetry continue to award 
high praise to " Burns," " J. R. Drake," " Alwick Castle," 
" Fortune," and " Weehawken." 

"Few American poets have been so highly lauded by 
critics; few so often read and ardently admired in the 
social circles of the land." — Allilone. 

" He is familiar with those general rules and principles 
which are the basis of metrical harmony ; and his own 
unerring taste has taught him the exceptions which a 
proper attention to variety demands. He understands 
that the rivulet is made musical by the obstructions in its 
channel." — Bryant. 

Paul H. Hayne was born in Charleston, South Carolina, 
in 1831, and died in 1886. His literary activity was both 
great and varied. He may be represented by " Coolie, and 
other Poems," " Legends and Lyrics." 

Josiah Gilbert Holland (1819-1881) has illustrated the 
varied form of effort so common among American writers. 
" Bitter-Sweet," " The Marble Prophecy," and " Kathrina " 
are favorite poems. 

Dr. Holland exerted great influence upon such young 
persons as were disposed to accept guidance, through his 
" Letters of Timothy Titcomb." As a novelist, Dr. Hol- 
land is represented by " The Bay-Path," " Arthur Bonni- 
castle," and " Miss Gilbert's Career." At the time of his 
death, Dr. Holland was the editor of Scribner's Magazine. 

A critic has said: "We mean it as very high praise 
when we say that 4 Bitter-Sweet ' is one of the few books 
that have found the secret of drawing up and assimilating 
the juices of this new world of ours." 



198 ENGLISH AND AMERICAN LITERATURE. 

Mrs. Julia Ward Howe was born in New York, in 
1819. As a poet, she is the author of " Battle Hymn of 
the Republic,'* "The Flag," "The Dead Christ," and 
" The Royal Guest." Mrs. Howe lives in Boston, and is 
recognized as a leader of Boston's literary circles, and as 
exerting a constant influence in all matters which have for 
their object the elevation or amelioration of life. 

Sidney Lanier was born in Georgia, in 1842, and died 
in Baltimore, in 1881. His work was varied, and he won 
marked distinction in each direction of effort. "Tiger 
Lilies " may represent his novels. 

As an essayist, Lanier may be studied through his 
" Science of English Verse," and through his " Develop- 
ment of the English Novel." 

As a writer of juvenile literature, his " Boys' Froissart " 
and his " Boys' Mabinogian " may be selected to represent 
him. The more characteristic of Lanier's poems are : 
"Nirvana," "Resurrection," "Songs of the Jacquerie," 
" Song of the Chattahoochie," " The Revenge of Hamish," 
"Corn," "The Mocking-Bird," "Tampa Robins," "The 
Stirrup-Cup," "The Bee," "The Ship of Earth," "Sun- 
rise," " The Symphony," " The Mariners of Glynn," 

Joaquin Miller, though born in Indiana (1841), now 
lives in New Orleans, which would have seemed to be a 
more natural birthplace for this tropical poet. He is a 
master in his school of poetry, as will at once appear from 
a glance at his "Songs of the Mexican Seas," or his 
" Songs of the Sierras." 

T. Buchanan Read was born in Chester County, Penn- 
sylvania, 1822, and died in 1872. Many of his poems have 
become general favorites ; as for example, " Autumn's Sigh- 
ing," " The Angler," " The Brave at Home," " The Closing 



POETS OF AMERICA. 199 

Scene," "Drifting," "The Reaper's Dream," "Sheridan's 
Ride," "The Windy Night," "The Lost Pleiad," "The 
Water-Sprite," "Longfellow's Children." 

John Gr, Saxe was born in Vermont in 1816, bnt lived 
at Albany, New York. He died in 1887, leaving the 
reputation of a most successful humorous and satirical 
poet. Of his poems, if one must select, the following 
ma} r be accepted as characteristic and as popular favorites : 
"American Aristocracy," "The Cockney," "Death and 
Cupid," "Early Rising," "Echo," "Kiss Me Softly," 
"Railroad Rhyme," "The Times," "Woman's Will," "The 
Money King," " Progress," " Rape of the Lock." 

Richard Henry Stoddard was born in Massachusetts in 
1825. He now lives in New York, and is an untiring and 
successful cultivator of varied forms of literature. 

Mr. Stoddard's poems may be represented by "The 
Burial of Lincoln," " The Dead Master," " The Fisher and 
Charon," "Hymns to the Sea," "It never comes again," 
"The King's Bell." 

As an editor, Mr. Stoddard may be associated with " The 
Little Classic Series." 

" His Loves and Heroines of the Poets," and his " Late 
English Poets," may stand for his critical effort. 

Celia E. Thaxter was born in New Hampshire in 1835. 
Her poems have been numerous and popular, but may be 
represented by "Tacking Ship off Shore," "Driftwood," 
"Isle of Shoals." 

Henry Timrod was a native of South Carolina, and 
lived from 1829 to 1867. His poetry takes rank not from 
its volume, but from its quality ; and may be represented 
by " Ode on Decorating the Graves of the Confederate 
Dead." 



200 



ENGLISH AND AMERICAN LITERATURE. 



John T. Trowbridge was born at Ogden, New York, 1827. 
His poems — u The Vagabonds," " Darius Green," and "At 
Sea" — are known to all readers of popular poetry. 

In the direction of Juvenile Literature, Mr. Trowbridge 
has been both productive and effective. 

He has been the editor of " Our Young Folks." In fic- 
tion he is represented by " Neighbor Jackwood," " Cudjo's 
Cave," and " The Old Battle-Ground." 

Walt Whitman has been one of the creators of new 
poetical forms, and has been extravagantly praised, and 
quite as extravagantly condemned. He was born at West 
Hills, New York, 1819. 

The titles of his volumes of poems are "Leaves of 
Grass," and " Drum-Taps." 

Nathaniel Parker "Willis, born in Maine, 1807, lived 
in New York, where he died in 1867. 

Mr. Willis's popularity has been diminished by the con- 
stant appearance of new candidates for public favor, but 
many of his poems remain among the favorites of readers. 
"The Annoyer," "The Belfry Pigeon," "To a Child," 
" David and Absalom," " The Healing of Jairus' Daugh- 
ter," "Lines on Visiting Europe," "The Leper," "Parrha- 
sius," and " Women," are all well known. 



[The alphabetical lists seek to present a bird's-eye view. If the name has 
received individual treatment, it is italicized ; and when the writer, as in 
the case of John Quincy Adams, is not so well known as a poet as he is as a 
statesman, he is identified by the addition of his best-known claim to recol- 
lection. With the poets who do not receive individual mention are given 
the titles of their best-known poems.] 



Adams, John Quincy. 
man." 
The Wants of Men. 
Dermot MacMurrough. 



States- 



Aldrich, T. B. 

Allen, Mrs. Elizabeth Akers. " 
ence Percy." Me., 1832. 
Rock me to Sleep, Mother. 



Flor- 



POETS OF AMERICA. 



201 



Allston, Washington. S.C., 1779-1843. 

Babyhood. 

America to Great Britain. 

Rosalie. 
Arnold, Geo. " McAroneY' N. Y., 
1834-1865. 

Drift. 

The Jolly Old Pedagogue. ' 
Barlow, Joel. Conn., 1755-1808. 

The Hasty Pudding. 
Benton, Joel. N. Y., 1832. 

Poems. 
Boker, G. H. 
Boyesen, H. H. " Novelist." 

If the Rose Could Speak. 
Brackett, Miss Anna C. " Educa- 
tor." 

Unconscious Education. 

The Michigan Woods. 
Brainard, J. G. C. " Conn., 1796- 
1828. 

Epithalamion. 

I saw Two Clouds at Morning. 
Brooks, Chas. T. "Translator." 

The Fisher. 

Alpine Heights. 
Bryant, Wm. C. 
Bungay, Geo. W. England, 1825. 

The Creed of the Bells. 
Bunner, H. C. " Novelist. " 

Airs from Arcady. 
Burroughs, John. N. Y., 1837. 

Locusts and Wild Honey. 
Butler, Wm. Allen. N. Y., 1825. 

Nothing to Wear. 
Carleton, Will. Mich., 1845. 

Farm Ballads. 
Cary, Alice. " Novelist." 
Gary, Phoebe. " Novelist." 
Chad wick, J. W Mass., 1840. 

Poems. 
Chandler, Elizabeth M. Del., 1807- 
1834. 

The Slave Ship. 



Chanler, Amelie Rives. " Novelist." 

Grief and Faith. 
Clark, Willis G. N. Y., 1810-1841. 

The Spirit of Life. 
Clarke, Jas. Freeman. " Theolo- 
gian." 

America. 

Theckla's Song. 
Clarke, Simon Tucker. N. Y. 

Shakespeare. 

Wagner. 
Coan, Titus Munson. Hawaii, 1835. 

Poems. 
Coffin, R. B. " Barry Gray." N. 
Y., 1826. 

America. 

Ships at Sea. 
Conant, S. S. Me., 1831. 

Poems. 
Cone, Helen Gray. N. Y., 1859. 

Oberon and Puck. 
Cooke, Philip P. Va., 1816-1850. 

Florence Vane. 
Cooke, Mrs. Rose Terry. Conn., 
1827. 

Trailing Arbutus. 

Reve du Midi. 

There. 
Coxe, Bishop A. C. "Theologian." 

Christian Ballads. 
Cranch, C. P. D. C, 1813. 

Thought is Deeper. 

Lifted Veils. 
Dana, R. H., Sr. 

Davidson, Lucretia M. N. Y., 1808- 
1825. 

Song at Twilight. 
DeKay, Chas. D. C, 1849. 

Hesperus. 

Poems of Barnaval. 
DeVere, Mary A. 1839. 

Auspicious. 
Deems, Rev. C. A. " Pulpit Orator." 

Devotional Melodies. 



202 



ENGLISH AND AMERICAN LITERATURE. 



Doane, Bishop G. W. N. J. 1799- 
1859. 

Songs by the Way. 

Thou art the Way. 
Dodge, Mrs. M. M. " Ed. Mag." 

Along the Way. 

Learning to Pray. 
Dorr, Mrs. Julia C. R. S. C, 1825. 

Outgrown. 
Dorgan, J. A. 1836-1867. 

Poems. 
Drake, J. R. 
Ellet, Mrs. Elizabeth . • ' Historian. ' ' 

Poems. 
Emerson, R. W. 
English, T. D. Phila., 1819. 

Ben Bolt. 
Fawcett, Edgar. " Novelist." 
Fields, Mrs. J. T. Mass., 1834. 

Under the Olive. 
Finch, F. M. N. Y., 1827. 

The Blue and the Gray. 
Foster, S. C. Penn., 1826-1864. 

My Old Kentucky Home. 

Nelly Bly. 

Suwanee River. 
Frenean, Philip. 
Gilder, R. W. " Ed. Mag." 

The New Day. 

The Poet and his Master. 

The Life Work of Lincoln. 
Gilman, Caroline H. Boston, 
1794. 

Annie in the Graveyard. 

The American Boy. 
Gladden, Rev. G. W. "Juveniles." 

The Mountains. 
Goodale, Miss D. R. Mass., 1866. 

Apple Blossoms. 
Goodale, Miss Elaine. Mass., 1863. 

Ashes of Roses. 
Gould, Mrs. H. F. Vt., 1789-1865. 

The Forest. 

The Winds. 



Greene, Albert G. R. I., 1802-1866. 

Old Grimes is Dead. 

The Baron's Last Banquet. 
Grimke, Thos. S. S. C, 1786-1834. 

Union. 
Guiney, Louise I. Mass., 1861. 

The White Sail. 
Hale, Mrs. Sarah J. Conn., 1793- 
1819. 

The Genius of Oblivion. 

It Snows. 
Halleclc, Fitz-Greene. 
Halpine, C. G. " Miles O'Reilly." 

Ireland, 1829-1869. 

Irish Astronomy. 

Quaker dom. 
Harte, Bret. 
Hay, John. Ills., 1838. 

Liberty. 

Jim Bludsoe. 

Little Breeches. 
Hayne, Paul H. S. C, 1831-1886. 

Ode to Sleep. 
Higginson, T. W. " Historian." 
Hill, Thomas. "Mathematician." 

Poems on Slavery. 

The Bobolink. 
Hillhouse, Bishop J. A. Conn., 
1789-1841. 

Trembling Before Thy Awful 
Throne. 
Hoffman, C. F. " Novelist." 
Holland, J. G. 
Holmes, O. W. 

Hopkinson, Francis. Phila., 1737- 
1791. 

The Battle of the Kegs. 
Hopkinson, Joseph. Phila., 1771- 
1842. 

Hail Columbia. 
Hoive, Mrs. Julia Ward. 
Hudson, Mrs. Mary Clemmer. N. 
Y., 1839-1884. 

Poems of Life and Nature. 



POETS OF AMERICA. 



203 



Huntington, Rev. F. D. " Theolo- 
gian." 

Religion. 

Triumphs of Faith. 
Jackson, Mrs. Helen Hunt. " H. 

H." " Novelist." 
Johnson, Rossiter. "Editor." 

Idler and Poet. 
Joyce, R. D. Ireland, 1836-1883. 

Deirdre. 
Judson, Mrs. Emily. "Fanny For- 
rester." N. Y., 1817-1854. 

The Olio. 

"Watching. 
Key, Francis S. Md., 1779-1843. 

The Star Spangled Banner. 
Kimball, Harriet M. N. H., 1834. 

Swallow Flights of Song. 
Kinney, Coates. N. Y., 1826. 

Rain on the Roof. 
Lanier, Clifford A. Ga., 1844. 

Poems. 
Lanier, Sidney. 

Larcom, Lucy. " Editor of Maga- 
zines." 

Wild Roses of Cape Ann. 
Lathrop, G-. P. "Essayist." 
Lazarus, Miss Emma. N. Y. , 1849. 

Admetus. 

The Dance of Death. 
Leland, Chas. G. Phila., 1824. 

Hans Breitmann. 

The Fisher's Cottage. 

The Water Fay. 
Leighton, Wm. Mass., 1833. 

The Sons of Godwin at the Court 
of King Edward. 
Longfellow, H. W. 
Lowell, J. R. 
Lowell, Maria W. Mass., 1821-1853. 

The Morning Glory. 

The Alpine Sheep. 
Lowell, R. T. S. Boston, 1816. 

The Relief of Lucknow. 



Lytle, Wm. H. Ohio, 1826-1863. 

Antony to Cleopatra. 
McMaster, G. H. N. Y., 1829-1887. 

Carmen Bellicosum. 
Matthews, J. N. Ala. 

Tempe. 
Meek, Alex. B. Ala., 1814-1865. 

Balaklava. 
Menken, Mrs. A. J. H. La., 1835- 
1868. 

Infelicia. 
Miller, Joaquin. 
Mitchell, S. Weir. Penn., 1829. 

The Hill of Stones. 
Montgomery, G. E. Spain, 1856. 

Bernardo del Carpio. 
Moore, Clement C. N. Y., 1779-1852. 

Visit from St. Nicholas. 
Morris, Geo. P. Phila., 1802-1865. 

My Mother's Bible. 

Woodman, Spare that Tree. 
Moulton, Mrs. E. S. C. Conn., 1835. 

Poems. 
Muhlenberg, Rev. W. A. Phila., 
1796-1877. 

I Would not Live Alway. 
Munford, Wm. Va., 1775-1825. 

To a Friend in Affliction. 
Neal, John. Me., 1793-1876. 

The Battle of Niagara. 
O'Brien, Fitz-Innis. Ire., 1829-1862. 

Kane. 
O'Reilly, J. Boyle. Ire., 1844. 

Songs from the Southern Seas. 
Osgood, Frances S.- Boston, 1812- 
1850. 

To Labor is to Pray. 
Palfrey, Sara H. Mass. 

Hilda. 

Sir Pavon and St. Pavon. 
Palmer, Rev. Ray. R. I., 1808-1887. 

My Faith looks up to Thee. 
Paine, Robt. Treat. Mass., 1773-1811. 

Adams and Liberty. 



204 



ENGLISH AND AMERICAN LITERATURE. 



Payne, John Howard. N. Y., 1792- 
1852. 

Brutus. 

Home, sweet Home. 
Parsons, T. W. Boston, 1819. 

A Lady singing. 

On a Bust of Dante. 

Saint Perry. 

The Groomsman to his Mistress. 
Peahody, W. B. O. N. H., 1799-1847. 

Poems. 
Percival, Jas. Gates. Conn., 1795- 
1856. 

May. 

The Coral Grove. 

Seneca Lake. 
Perry, Miss Nora. R. I. 

Cressid. 

Riding Down. 

After the Battle. 

The Romance of the Rose. 
Pierpont, John. Conn., 1795-1866. 

Centennial Ode. 
Piatt, J. J. Ind., 1835. 

Idyls and Rhymes of the Ohio 
Valley. 
Pratt, Mrs. J. J. Ky., 1836. 

Dramatic Persons and Moods. 
Pike, Albert. Boston, 1809. 

The Mocking-Bird. 
Pinckney, E. C. Ind., 1802-1828. 

Serenade. 

A Health. 
Poe, E. A. 
Preston, Mrs. Margaret S. Va., 1838. 

Beechenbrook ; Cartoons. 
Proctor, Edna Dean. N. H. 

Poems. 
Randall, Jas. R. Md., 1839. 

My Maryland. 
Randolph, A. D. F. N. Y., 1820. 

Hopefully Waiting. 
Raymond , Rossiter . O . , 1840. 

Song of the Sea. 

Song of the Ichthyosaurus. 



Read, T. B. 

Riley, J. W. Ind., 1854. 

Hoosier Lyrics. 
Rollins, Mrs. Alice Wellington. 
Mass., 1847. 

The King of Amethyst. 
Russell, Irwin, Miss., 1853-1879. 

Poems. 
Ryan, Father A. J. Va., 1840-1886. 

The Trailed Banner. 

The Land we Love. 
Sanborn, F. B. " Essayist." 

Anathemata. 

River Song. 

Consecration Ode. 
Sangster, Mrs. M. E. N. Y., 1838. 

Poems of the Household. 
Sargent, Epes. Mass., 1814-1880. 

Songs of the Sea. 
Savage, M. J. Me., 1841. 

Poems. 
Saxe, J. G. 
Scollard, Clinton. N. Y., 1860. 

Pictures in Song. 
Sherrick, Fannie Isabella. Mo. 

Love or Fame; Star-dust. 
Sigourney, Mrs. Lydia H. "Essay- 
ist." 
Simms, Wm. Gilmore. S. C, 1806- 
1870. 

Lyrical and other Poems. 
Snider, Denton J. " Critic." 

Delphic Days. 

Agamemnon's Daughter. 
Spofford, Mrs. Harriet P. " Novel- 
ist." 

Kilcolenan Castle. 

The Night Sea. 
Sprague, Charles. Boston, 1791-1875. 

The Winged Worshippers. 

Ode to Shakespeare. 
Stedman, E. C. " Critic." 
Stockton, Frank R. " Novelist." 
Stoddard, Lavina. Conn. , 1787-1820. 

The Soul's Defiance. 



POETS OF AMERICA. 



205 



Stoddard, R. H. 


Wakefield, Nancy W. A. Priest. N. 


Story, W. W. Mass., 1819. 


H., 1837-1870. 


Cleopatra. 


Over the River. 


Praxiteles and Phryne. 


Wallace W. R. Ky., 1819-1881. 


Street, Alfred B. N. Y., 1811-1881. 


The Liberty Bell. 


The Settler. 


Wasson, D. A. " Theologian." 


Taylor, Bayard. 


Love against Love. 


Taylor, Benj. F. N. Y., 1822-1887. 


Royalty. 


Poems. 


Warfield, Mrs. C. E. "Novelist." 


Thaxter, Celia L. 1835. 


Poems. 


Thayer, W. R. "Paul Hermes." 


Webster, Daniel. " Orator." 


1859. 


Lines in a Lady's Album. 


Poems. 


Welby, Amelia B. Md., 1824-1852. 


Thomas, Edith M. Conn., 1854. 


The Old Maid. 


A Far Cry to Heaven. 


Whitman, Walt. 


Thompson, J. Maurice. Ind., 1844. 


Whitney, Mrs. A. D. T. " Novelist." 


Hoosier Mosaics. 


Whittier, J. G. 


Songs of Fair Weather. 


Wilde, R. H. Dublin, 1789-1847. 


Thoreau, H. D. " Essayist." 


Stanzas. 


Tilton, Theodore. N.Y., 1835. 


Willis, N. P. 


The Great Bell Roland. 


Wilson, Forceythe. N. Y., 1837-1867. 


Tempest-Tossed . 


In State. 


Timrod, Henry. S. C, 1829-1867. 


Winter, Wm. Mass., 1836. 


Cotton Boll. 


Poems. 


Trowbridge, J. T. 


Winthrop, Theodore. " Novelist." 


Trumbull, J. Conn., 1750-1831. 


Woerner, Judge J. G. Wiirtem- 


McFingal. 


berg, 1826. 


Tuckerman, H. T. " Essayist." 


Amanda. 


Very, Jones. Mass., 1812. 


Woodberry, G. E. Mass., 1855. 


The Barberry Bush. 


The North Shore Watch. 


The Strangers. 


Woodworth, Saml. Mass., 1785-1842. 


Nature. 


The Old Oaken Bucket. 


The World. 


Woolson, Constance Fenimore. N. 


Spirit Land. 


H., 1848. 




Two Women. 



TOPICAL RESUME. 
(chapter vm.) 
American literary effort. 
Difficulty of just criticism. 

Sketches of the four most eminent American poets. 
Memorabilia in regard to Aldrich, Boker, Butler, Dana, Drake, 
Freneau, Halleck, Hayne, Howe, Lanier, Miller, Bead, Sargent, 
Saxe, Stoddard, Thaxter, Timrod, Trowbridge, Whitman, Willis. 



ESSAYISTS. 



CHAPTER IX. 

ESSAYISTS AND HISTORIANS. 

The Essay has been a favorite literary form in the 
United States, and the number of writers, the variety of 
topic, and the value of the information conveyed, have been 
very great. Many of the essayists have appeared also as 
poets, novelists, etc. It may be added that the essay, as 
understood in America, represents a particular "study," 
and not an exhaustive monograph, as in the case of 
Macaulay, or a series of memorandums, as with Lord 
Bacon. 

The high standard of the American magazines, the con- 
stant desire for the views of those who can add to our 
stores of information, and the facility of the average 
American, are some of the many reasons for our possess- 
ing so many writers who have cultivated with success the 
form called the Essay. The result has been that there 
is no lack of the elegant scholarship of a Hillard, the wit 
and humor and congeniality of a Holmes, the verve, humor, 
and grasp of a Lowell, the elevating inspirations of an 
Emerson, the quaint grace of an Irving, the sturdy good 
sense and wisdom of a Franklin, the research and happy 
presentation of a Bancroft, a Prescott, a Motley. Tried 
by the canons of the art, the American seems to find his 
native heath in the essay , and, hence, America's endow- 
ment is alike great and of value. 

209 



210 english and american literature. 

Emerson. 

Ralph Waldo Emerson was born in Boston in 1803, 
although in his manhood he lived at Concord, occupying 
the house built by his grandfather. His early training 
was of the orthodox New England kind, and developed, if 
it did not strengthen, those peculiarities which were to 
constitute his power. He himself, looking forward to the 
ministry, which had been the family profession, lived not 
in the company and for the enjoyments common to those 
of his age, but in the society of older persons, and " in a 
world of principles rather than in a world of facts." 
"When fourteen years of age he entered Harvard College, 
and his tastes led him to cultivate language and literature 
at the expense of mathematics, logic, metaphysics, and 
physical science. 

After graduation, like most young men of insufficient 
means, he taught school, and, having studied divinity, 
was, at the age of twenty-six, appointed assistant minister 
over the Second Church. In 1832 he resigned his pastor- 
ate, being unwilling to lend formal support to doctrines in 
which he did not believe. 

In the same year he was bereft of his wife, and sought 
rest from sorrow in the distraction of a visit to England. 
Here he met Landor, Coleridge, Wordsworth, and 
Carlyle. 

Upon his return to America in the year following, he 
exchanged the pulpit for the platform and the lecture-room. 
To Emerson is due the evolution of the Public Lyceum, 
an instrumentality which has proved so efficient in our 
community life. 

In 1841 he lost his only son, and said, in a letter to Car- 



ESSAYISTS AND HISTORIANS. 211 

lyle, " You can never know how much of one such a young 
child can take away." 

In 1882 Emerson died, just as his faculties gave signs 
of decay, but not until he had accomplished his life's work, 
and had received that full recognition which all too rarely 
comes to the genuine student. 

In the case of no other writer, perhaps, has the verdict 
pronounced been so much affected by the various standards 
of judgment applied. 

Rhetorically, Emerson has been granted by all the pos- 
session of marked excellence. 

From the standpoint of art, Emerson has suffered more 
than any other English writer, unless it is Carlyle, inas- 
much as his work has been tried not by its own laws, but 
by canons derived from forms wholly unlike his own, and 
applicable to them alone. 

It must be remembered that Emerson's fundamental 
idea was departure from the conventionalized ; for, as it 
seemed to him, this was as fatal to natural development 
as the swathing bands applied to the Chinese infant. 
Hence the peculiarities of Emerson's art-form must be 
judged, if judged justly, from this point of view. The 
question as to whether he was happy in the creation 
and employment of a new form, must be answered with 
reference to the ends which he sought, and the results 
which he accomplished thereby. 

Philosophically considered, Emerson's work is perma- 
nently great and valuable, although not uncommonly mis- 
understood. The problem which society presented to 
Emerson was, how to round out the theory of life by 
teaching that one in his eagerness " to get a living," must 
never forget " to live." It has been truly said, that u Puri- 



212 ENGLISH AND AMERICAN LITERATURE. 

tanism had been replaced by Industrialism and Imitation 
— influences quite as hostile to independent culture." 
While Emerson in no wise underrated the desirableness 
and necessity for the labor of the work-a-day world, he felt 
that a complete scheme of existence demanded more than 
the life of the well-stalled ox, or than the competition of 
the hound and the fox. 

It was this social condition which suggested to Emerson 
the need and the worthiness of urging the claims of man- 
hood as above those of loaves and fishes. And it was this 
social condition which evoked Emerson's fundamental 
idea, — the perfectibility of the individual, together with 
its inherent weakness, "a belief in individual intuition," — 
as a cardinal principle. But, as has been wisely said, u no 
one reads his books for the sake of clear, systematic, logical 
exposition. But thousands who do not value his philoso- 
phy for itself, value it for the trains of thought which it 
awakens, the suggestions which he drew from it, the image- 
ry with which he illustrated it, the inspiration of noble 
wishes and high aspirations which he made it breathe." 

If it be granted, as it will hardly be denied, that Emer- 
son's problem was to emphasize the spiritual side of life, 
that his task was to break up conventions which tradition 
and natural inertness had crystallized into what seemed 
immutable laws, we shall have the key at once to his gos- 
pel, and to the forms which were its proper expression. 

The failure to recognize that the artist is a law unto 
himself ; that when working under the influence of artistic 
inspiration, he creates such forms as are the proper body 
for the soul which seeks expression : this failure has, as it 
seems to us, lain at the root of the common misjudgments 
of America's most influential writer. Through forgetful- 



ESSAYISTS AND HISTORIANS. 213 

ness of this condition of original art, many have reproached, 
for lack of system, the very man whose life-work it was to 
wage war upon the too orderly systems, which forbade 
growth except in prescribed directions. Many have com- 
plained of the absence of a system of dogmatic philosophy 
in one whose philosophy had as its ultimate principle the 
need for the fullest development of individuality, however 
various the temperaments. Many, if not most who have 
offered themselves as critics of Emerson, have altogether 
overlooked the secret of Emerson's forms ; that his very 
aim, and his controlling idea, led him to string separate 
truths as pearls, rather than to arrange them in the conven- 
tionally logical forms, proper for doctrinaires. 

In his assertion of the principle of individuality, Emer- 
son was peculiarly American, in that his writings, both in 
form and in content, are concrete illustrations of his 
abstract beliefs ; he was strikingly consistent and artistic ; 
and he was effective because his insights were not given 
forth as formulas, but as illustrations of his beliefs. 

Hawthorne says, "His words had power because they 
accorded with his thoughts ; and his thoughts had reality 
and depth because they harmonized with the life which he 
always lived." 

A writer in the Quarterly Review says, " He effected the 
intellectual emancipation of America as much by his 
example as by his teaching ; by his impersonation of the 
unselfish search for truth, and of the unsatisfied craving 
for self-improvement ; by the realized ideal which he 
placed before them of ' plain living and high thinking.' ' 

As a poet, Emerson must be judged with constant 
remembrance of his controlling idea, and without forget- 
fulness of that theory of poetry which regards verse as 



214 ENGLISH AND AMERICAN LITERATURE. 

the proper form for the crystallization of thought. In the 
first respect, his poetry prefers no claim which is not 
readily conceded to even the most popular poets ; in the 
latter, Emerson erred, if error it be, in company with all 
of the greater American poets, and with the English 
school, which embraces Dryden, Addison, Pope, and many 
another immortal. 

Of Emerson's poems Bryant, in his " Library of Poetry and Song," 
selects : Borrowing, Boston Hymn, Brahma, Heri, Cras, Hodie, Hero- 
ism, To the Humble Bee, Justice, Letters, Northman, Poet, Quat- 
rains and Fragments, The Rhodora, The Sea, and The Snowstorm. 

Dana, in his Household Book of Poetry, mentions, The Humble 
Bee, The Snowstorm, Rhodora, Threnody, Good-bye, Each and All, 
The Problem. 

Of his essays perhaps the most popular are " The Future 
of the Republic," "The Conduct of Life," "English Traits," 
" Representative Men," and " Letters and Social Aims." 

Young students can but find pleasure and inspiration 
in an acquaintance with Emerson. 

REFERENCES FOR THE STUDENT. 

Cleveland : American Literature. 
Fuller : Papers on Literature and Art. 
Griswold : Prose Writers of America. 
Robinson, N. C. : Diary and Correspondence. 
Bartol : Christian Register, vols. 42, 48. 
Chambers's Cyclopedia of English Literature. 
Drake's Dictionary of American Biography. 
Duyckinck's Cyclopaedia of American Literature. 
Lippincottfs Biographical Dictionary. 

Irving. 

Washington Irving was born in New York, in 1783, 
and died when seventy-six years of age, full of honor and 



ESSAYISTS AND HISTORIANS. 215 

of honors. With Irving begins the recognition of Ameri- 
can literary effort, but, like all beginnings, it shows some- 
what too strongly the influence of foreign models. Still, 
the very fact of Mr. Irving's admiration for the Old World 
literature, and his successful study of it, caused his own 
work to fix a standard of style, the effects of which have 
been of the highest value to American effort. 

In 1807, Mr. Irving, in conjunction with James K. 
Paulding and William Irving, published "Salmagundi," — 
a work suggestive of similar French and English under- 
takings, and one which is full of sound political instruc- 
tion, set in the most delicate humor. 

No name is better known in American literature than 
that of Washington Irving; and the serenity and beauty 
of his personal life add another element to the reader's 
satisfaction. 

The chronology of Irving's publications is as follows : — 

1802. Letters by Jonathan Oldstyle. 

1807. Salmagundi. 

1809. History of New York, by Diedrich Knickerbocker. 

1819. The Sketch-Book. 

1822. Bracebridge Hall. 

1824. Tales of a Traveller. 

1828. Life and Voyages of Christopher Columbus. 

1829. The Conquest of Granada. 

1832. TheAlhambra; Tour on the Prairies. 

1835. Legends of the Conquest of Spain. 

1836. Astoria. 

1837. Adventures of Capt. Bonneville. 
1841. Life of Margaret Davidson. 

1849. Recollections of Abbotsford and Newstead Abbey ; Life of 
Oliver Goldsmith. 

1850. Mahomet and his Successors. 
1855. Wolfert's Roost. 
1855-1859. Life of Washington. 



216 ENGLISH AND AMERICAN LITERATURE. 

Mr. Irving has been thought worthy of critical review 
by Edward Everett, H. T. Tuckerman, R. H. Dana, Sr., 
A. H. Everett, John Neal, W. H. Prescott, R. W. Gris- 
wold, E. A. Duyckinck, H. B. Wallace, F. H. Underwood, 
M. C. Tyler, and other American critics. 

On the British side of the ocean, Irving received recog- 
nition from London Quarterly Review, Blackwood' 's Maga- 
zine, London Monthly Review, London Athenaeum, Lublin 
University Magazine, Westminster Revieiv, London Literary 
Gazette, Frasers, and from Sir Walter Scott, Moore, 
Jeffrey, Chambers, Dibden, Wilson, Byron, Smyth, 
Brougham, Miss Bremer, and Madden. 

George S. Hillard mentions as Irving's characteristics, 
"rich and original humor, great refinement of feeling and 
delicacy of sentiment, style accurately finished, easy, and 
transparent, accurate observer ; his descriptions are correct, 
animated, and beautiful." 

It is perhaps not too much to say that young students 
can find no writer, familiarity with whom will give them 
greater pleasure, while at the same time it will prove the 
best of education in the matter of style. 

REFERENCES FOR THE STUDENT. 

Brougham : Men of Letters. 

Cleveland : American Literature. 

Griswold : Prose Writers of America. 

Prescott : Biographical History ; Miscellanies ; Histories. 

Tyler : History of American Literature. 

Tuckerman : Homes of American Authors. 

Hazlitt : Spirit of the Age. 

Chambers's Cyclopaedia of English Literature. 

Drake's Dictionary of American Biography. 

Lippincott's Biographical Dictionary. 



essayists and histokians. 217 

Feanklin. 

Benjamin Franklin was born in Massachusetts in 1706, 
but when seventeen years of age sought his fortune in 
Philadelphia, which city still retains memorials of him in 
its libraries. One of the most active and efficient of work- 
ers in the American Revolution, any attempt to assign him 
a place in American literature is embarrassed by the vari- 
ous directions in which he achieved distinction. As a 
patriot, he served America abroad as a diplomat, and at 
home by untiring activity and useful suggestions. As a 
philanthropist, he successfully taught the lesson of thrift, 
and the usefulness of education. As a physicist, he made 
discoveries in the field of electricity. As a personality, he 
illustrated the American principles of self-help, industry, 
patriotism, and philanthropy. 

His opportunities for education were irregular, and the 
"books that helped him," show that it is of less conse- 
quence what particular books one reads, than that he shall 
read them thoroughly, and in the spirit of a genuine 
student. 

" Franklin's Autobiography " should be read by all, and 
it is therefore less desirable to present incidents which are 
there better told. 

His works have been reviewed by F. H* Underwood, 
Bigelow, Francis Jeffrey, Condorcet, Bancroft, Andrews, 
Norton, Mignet, Bauer, Schmaltz, Brougham, James Parton, 
Sir Humphry Davy, W. B. O. Peabody, Francis Bowen, 
John Foster, Moses Coit, Tyler, Griswold, Theodore Parker, 
H. T. Tuckerman, C. D. Cleveland and others. Franklin's 
claims upon posterity have been examined by statesmen, 
historians, physicists, and literary critics, and perhaps there 



218 ENGLISH AND AMERICAN LITERATURE. 

is no other American whose life has been subjected to such 
searching scrutiny. 

Sir Humphry Davy, speaking of Franklin as a physicist, 
says, "A singular felicity of induction guided all his 
researches, and by very small means, he established very 
grave truths." 

Lord Brougham claims that, " His genius ranks him with 
the Galileos and Newtons of the Old World." 

Jeffrey, criticising him as a writer, ascribes to him, 
" Soundness, sagacity, quickness of penetration, and lively 
imagination. Style has the vigor and conciseness of Swift, 
without his harshness." 

Bancroft, writing from the standpoint of the political his- 
torian, asserts that " Franklin was the greatest diplomatist of 
the eighteenth century. He never spoke a word too soon ; he 
never spoke a word too late ; he never spoke a word too much ; 
he never failed to speak the right word in the right place." 

REFERENCES FOR THE STUDENT. 

Bancroft: History of the United States, vol. 9. 
Bigelow : Life and Works of Franklin. 
Brougham : Statesmen of Time of. George in. 
Griswold : Prose Writers of America. 
Tuckerman : Essays Biographical and Critical. 
Tyler : History of American Literature. 
Drake's Dictionary of American Biography. 
Lippincott's Biographical Dictionary. 
Underwood's Handbook of American Literature, 

Essayists. 

S. Gr. W. Benjamin is a frequent contributor to the lead- 
ing magazines, and has published in book form " Contem- 
porary Art in Europe," " Contemporary Art in America." 

Mr. Benjamin was born in Greece in 1840. 



ESSAYISTS AND HISTORIANS. 219 

Elihu Burritt, " the learned blacksmith," was born in 
Connecticut in 1811, and died in 1879. He was distin- 
guished as a linguist, but his essays called " The Mission 
of Great Suffering " will be found full of inspiration. 

William Ellery Channing was born in Rhode Island 
in 1780, and died in 1842 ; he was chiefly distinguished as a 
pulpit orator, and his influence was very great. His poems, 
"Death," "Memory," "Sea Song," "Sleepy Hollow," 
" The Earth Spirit," " The Flight of the Wild Geese," 
" The Hillside Cot," " The Mountain," and " The Poet's 
Hope," still survive. But it is through his essay upon 
Milton that he specially addresses the student of literature. 
Channing was a valued contributor to the Christian 
Examiner. 

A. H. Everett says, Channing " looks through external 
forms in search of the secret, mysterious principles of 
thought, action, and being : mind in the abstract is his 
constant theme." 

Charles D. Cleveland, though contented with preparing 
his compendiums, " English Literature," " American Liter- 
ature," and "English Literature in the Nineteenth Cen- 
tury," displays such literary taste and scholarship, as to 
cause regret that of original effort we have but his essay 
on Milton. 

Mr. Cleveland was born in Massachusetts in 1802, and 
died at Philadelphia in 1869. 

Mary Abigail Dodge, " Gail Hamilton," was born in 
Massachusetts in 1839. She has been a frequent con- 
tributor to the Atlantic Monthly, and has published, among 
other works, " Gala Days " and " Wool Gathering." 

Alexander H. Everett was born in Massachusetts in 
1791, and died in 1847, after an unusually busy and 
productive life. 



220 ENGLISH AND AMERICAN LITERATURE. 

By the young student, Mr. Everett may be remembered 
as an editor of the famous North American Review, and as 
a valuable contributor thereto. He published biographies 
of Warren and Henry. 

James T. Fields, born in New Hampshire in 1815, be- 
came a famous Boston publisher, and was foremost in 
acquainting the American public with the treasures of 
English literature. 

His poems : " Ballad of the Tempest," and " Dirge for 
a Young Girl," and his prose : " Biographical Notes and Per- 
sonal Sketches," "Essays," and "Yesterdays with Authors," 
represent his individual contributions to literature. 

Mr. Fields died in 1881. He edited the works of 
De Quincey, and was for a time editor of the Atlantic 
Monthly. 

Margaret Fuller, Countess d'Ossoli, was most influen- 
tial as a living presence, and in this role she counts among 
the most efficient of the pioneer literary influences. 

She was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1810; 
in 1847 she met the Marquis d'Ossoli in Italy, and be- 
came his wife ; and in 1850, while returning to America, 
she was lost by shipwreck off the coast of New Jersey. 

She was fully acquainted with English, German, French, 
Spanish, and Italian. She formed classes for conversation, 
and thus anticipated a form of intellectual exercise which 
has become quite popular in our day. 

Her papers on literature and art, though conveying but a 
faint idea of her influence upon American intellectual 
development, retain their interest. 

•Rev. Henry Giles was born in Ireland in 1809, but 
removed to America in 1840 ; he died full of years and of 
honor in 1882. 



ESSAYISTS AND HISTORIANS. 221 

"His Lectures and Essays" (1850), "Illustrations of 
Genius " (1854), and " Human Life in Shakespeare," 
continue to be read with profit and pleasure. 

Mr. Giles was very popular as a lecturer, and his labor 
in exciting an intelligent interest in English literature, 
renders him one of the effective influences in American 
literary development. 

Edward Everett Hale, born in Boston in 1822, is one 
of our most productive and acceptable writers. He has 
broken ground in various directions, and the sunshine of 
his healthy nature lends a peculiarly invigorating quality 
to whatever proceeds from his pen. 

His " Man without a Country " is one of the most effec- 
tive lessons in patriotism, and should be familiar to all. 

" If, Yes, and Perhaps " is another favorite. Mr. Hale 
edited " Old and New," and is a frequent contributor to 
the magazines, besides finding constant occupation in enter- 
prises for rendering the masses more intelligent and self- 
respecting. His various books of travels may represent 
his efforts in the direction of juvenile literature. 

Frederic H. Hedge was born in Cambridge, Massachu- 
setts, in 1805, and still continues to add to the literary 
reputation of that spot famous for American scholarship. 
Mr. Hedge's " Prose Writers of Germany " continues to be an 
authority, and his poem " Questionings " is familiar to many. 

George S. Hillard was born in Maine, in 1808, and died 
in 1879. His main energies were engrossed by his profes- 
sion, the law; but through his "Literary Readers," and 
his "Six Months in Italy," he holds a secure position 
among American essayists. Mr. Hillard was editor of the 
Christian Register, a contributor to the North American 
Review, and edited the works of Spenser and Landor. 



222 ENGLISH AND AMERICAN LITERATURE. 

The English magazines gave Mr. Hillarcl high praise : — 

" Immense information, novel and judicious criticisms, 
thoughts and feelings beautifully expressed. — Fraser's. 

" Without egotism, personal or patriotic ; style, pointed 
and full of happy expressions and happy images." — Lon- 
don Quarterly Review. 

George Parsons Lathrop was born at Honolulu, in 
1851. As an essayist, Mr. Lathrop may be represented by 
his accounts of Boston, Philadelphia, and Washington. 
" Afterglow " and " Newport " may stand for his novels. 

" A Study of Nathaniel Hawthorne " may represent 
Mr. Lathrop's biographical and critical work. 

Mr. Lathrop was, for a time, assistant editor of the 
Atlantic Monthly, and his intense life of literary produc- 
tion finds expression, as in the case of his poems, through 
the columns of the current magazines. 

Henry Reed, born at Philadelphia, 1808, died 1854. 
His "Lectures on English Literature" display genuine 
literary appreciation, and must always be attractive to the 
lovers of the English classics. 

His " Lectures on English History " are also to be com- 
mended. 

Franklin Benjamin Sanborn was born at Hampton 
Falls, New Hampshire, in 1831. Much the larger part of 
his active life has been passed in Boston or its vicinity ; 
where he has specially been identified with the State's 
economic and penal questions, and has been prominent in 
the Concord School of Philosophy. He has a keen, quick 
mind, and an ever-present sense of humor, which protects 
him against unpleasing dogmatism. He has published a 
"Life of Thoreau," "The Life and Letters of John 
Brown," has edited " Channing's Wanderer," "Alcott's 



ESSAYISTS AND HISTORIANS. 223 

Sonnets and Canzonets," and has made many a contribu- 
tion to current magazine literature. 

Mrs. Lydia H. Sigourney was born at Norwich, Con- 
necticut, 1791, and died in 1865. Her popularity was 
unbounded, and her influence was exerted for the moral 
improvement of the young, as will be evident from the 
titles of her works in prose and verse. Her works are, — 

Moral Pieces in Prose and Verse, Tales and Essays for Children, 
Letters to Mothers, Letters to Young Ladies, How to be Happy, 
Biography of Nancy M. Hyde, Letters of Life, Letters to my Pupils, 
Poetry for Children, Zinzendorf and other Poems, Pocahontas and 
other Poems, Scenes in my Native Land, Pleasant Memories of 
Pleasant Lands, Traits of the Aborigines, a Poem, Select Poems, 
Selections from Various Sources, Lays from the West, Poems for 
the Sea, Voice of Flowers, The Man of Uz and other Poems, 
Gleanings. 

Edmund Clarence Stedman. Mr. Stedman's "Victo- 
rian Poets " is not only the best specimen of American 
literary criticism, but also of creative literary criticism. 

Mr. Stedman has published several volumes of poems, 
from which Bryant selects, " Cavalry Song," " The Door- 
step," "The Old Admiral," "What the Winds bring," 
" Betrothed Anew." Emerson's favorite was " John Brown 
of Osawatomie." 

Mr. Stedman has published also "Poets of America," — 
a companion to his " Victorian Poets." 

Mr. Stedman was born in New York, in 1837, and still 
resides in that city. His daily life is that of a banker, 
but his elegant leisure is occupied by literary work. 

Henry D. Thoreau, born at Concord, Massachusetts, 
1817, and died in 1862. As a poet, Mr. Thoreau is repre- 
sented by "Haze," "Mist," "Smoke," "Sympathy," "In- 
spiration." 



224 ENGLISH AND AMERICAN LITERATURE. 

His prose has a perennial freshness and breeziness, which 
render it very attractive to many readers. It may be rep- 
resented by " Walden," " A Week on the Concord and the 
Merrimack," " A Yankee in Canada," " Walden and the 
Maine Woods." 

Henry T. Tuckerman was born in Boston, in 1813, 
and died in 1871. In prose, Mr. Tuckerman published 
"Thoughts on the Poets," "Essays, Biographical and 
Critical," " Book of the Artists," " Characteristics of Lit- 
erature," " Italian Sketch Book," and " Artist Life." 

His poems of " Desolation " and " Newport Beach " have 
continued to interest readers. 

But Mr. Tuckerman's published works but poorly repre- 
sent his lifelong service to the encouragement of litera- 
ture. 

Vapereau calls Mr. Tuckerman "one of the ablest 
critics of any country." 

John Weiss, Boston, 1818-1879, was a leading contribu- 
tor to the North American Review, and published in book 
form " The Life and Correspondence of Theodore Parker," 
and " Wit, Humor, and Shakespeare." His potency in the 
pulpit ranked him among the most influential of Boston's 
pulpit orators. 

Edwin Percy Whipple was born at Gloucester, Massa- 
chusetts, in 1819, and died in 1886. Mr. Whipple has 
been one of the most active and most felicitous of Ameri- 
can essayists. 

Agreeable reading and helpful criticism will be found in 
any of his published works. 

1848. Essays and Reviews. 

1849. Literature and Life. 

1867. Character and Characteristic Men. 



ESSAYISTS AND HISTORIANS. 



225 



1869. Literature of the Age of Elizabeth. 

1871. Essays. 

1874. Success and its Conditions. 

Vapereau credits Whipple with "fineness of percep- 
tion, independence of judgment, and undeviating regard 
for the true interests of intelligence." 

Richard Grant "White was a variously accomplished 
writer, and ranged from Shakespeare through Philology to 
Music and English Grammar. As a Shakespearian editor 
and student, he occupies the first rank in the school which 
taboos aesthetic criticism. 

Mr. White was born in New York City, in 1822, and he 
continued to reside there until his death, in 1885. His 
writings, in book form, are, — 

1853. Christian Art. 

1854. Shakespearian Scholar. 

1866. Poetry of the Civil War; Words and their Uses ; England 
Without and Within, 



Supplementary List of Essayists and Historians. 



[See Note 

Benjamin, S. G. W. 

Boutwell, Mrs. Helen Willis. Mass. 

Milton. 
Burritt, Elilra. 
Bryant, Wm. M. " Critic." 

Essays on Art. 
Clianning, Wm. Ellery. " Theolo- 
gian." 

Milton. 
Cleveland, CD. "History of Lit." 

Milton. 
Congdon, G-. T. Mass., 1821. 

Tribune Essays. 
Cooper, Susan Feniniore. N. Y., 1825. 

Rural Hours. 



page 200.] 

Dodge, Mary A. " Gail Hamilton. 

Emerson, R. W. 

Everett, Alex. H. 

Fields, Jas. T. 

Fuller, Margaret. 

Garrigues, Miss Gertrude. Mo. 

Coleridge. 
Giles, Henry. 
Hale, Edward Everett. 
Hedge, Francis H. 
Hillard, George S. 
Holland, J. G. "Poet," 
Holland, R. A. " Pulpit Orator." 

The Soul of Shelley. 
Holmes, Oliver Wendell. "Poet." 



ENGLISH AND AMERICAN LITERATURE. 



Lathrop, George Parsons. 

Le Vert, Mrs. Octavia. Ga., 1820-1 877. 

Prescott, Wm. H. " Historian." 

Reed, Henry. 

Richardson, Mrs. Lucy S. O. 

Milton. 
Sanborn, F. B. 
Taylor, Bayard. " Poet." 
Thoreau, Henry D. 
Tucker man, Henry T. 
Upton, George P. 

Standard Cantatas, Operas, Ora- 
torios. 
Van Dyke, J. C. 

The Principles of Art. 



Van Rensselaer, Mrs. Schuyler. 
N. Y., 1851. 

The Cathedrals of England. 
Vickroy, Thos. R. "Philologist." 

Monographs on Education. 
Walker, Win. R. Scotland, 1841. 

Swift. 

Shakespeare's Tempest. 
Wallace, Horace Binney. Phila., 
1817-1852. 

Literature and Art. 
Weiss, John. 
Whipple, Edwin P. 
White, Richard Grant. 



HISTORIANS. 



CHAPTER IX. (continued'). 
Historians. 

George Bancroft was born at Worcester, Massachusetts, 
in 1800, — with the century whose literary interests he 
has done so much to exalt. 

He entered Harvard College when he was thirteen years 
of age, and after graduation studied in Germany under 
Heeren and Schlosser. In 1845, he was United States 
Secretary of the Navy, and in 1846, United States Minister 
Plenipotentiary to Great Britain. 

In 1823, he published "Poems." 

In 1824, " Translation of Heeren's Histories." 

In 1855, " Miscellanies." 

In 1866, " Abraham Lincoln; a Memorial Address." 

In 1867, "Joseph Reed; an historical essay." 

His " History of the United States " appeared, through 
its first volume, in 1834. 

The real liberality, the general fairness, the labor, and 
conscientious research, it evinces, deserve, and receive, the 
warmest approbation. 

The reader will find the pages filled with matter inter- 
esting and important. He will meet with brilliant and 
daring style, picturesque sketches of character and inci- 
dent, and acute reasoning and compass of erudition. 

" We know few modern historic works," says Professor 
Heeren, " in which the author has reached so high an ele- 
vation at once as an historical inquirer and an historical 

229 



230 ENGLISH AND AMERICAN LITERATURE. 

writer. The great conscientiousness with which he refers 
to his authorities, and his careful criticism, give the most 
decisive proofs of his comprehensive studies." 

The Edinburgh Review ascribes to him, " liberality, fair- 
ness, and research." 

John Fiske, whose activity is as tireless as his results are 
valuable, has discussed the " American Political Idea," and 
has, as an addition to a condensed edition of Irving's 
" Life of Washington," given a brief, but not incomplete, 
presentation of American history, as its spirit survives in 
the present. 

Professor Fiske has written also upon metaphysics and 
upon social science, but his investigations in American 
history are doubtless regarded by himself as his life-work, 
just as they are of the greatest import to the student of 
literature. 

Mr. Fiske was born in Connecticut, 1842 ; has been a 
professor at Harvard College, and now devotes his time to 
historical study, writing, and lecturing. 

He is chief among those who promise to make Ameri- 
cans acquainted with the spirit of their own institutions. 

Thomas Went worth Higginson is one of the active 
writers of the present day. His " Young Folks' History " 
remains a notably excellent compendium of American his- 
tory. But while it is as an historian that Mr. Higginson 
is here classed, he has written fiction (" Malbone, an Old- 
port Romance"), and his contributions to current maga- 
zines are frequent, and varied in topic ; Atlantic Monthly 
and Macmillan's Magazine have received most of his con- 
tributions. He has been a writer of juvenile literature, 
and also edited " Epictetus." 

He was born in Cambridge, 1823, and seems. to vindicate 



ESSAYISTS AND HISTORIANS. 231 

the fact that Cambridge is a good birth-place, as well as a 
charming residence for a literary man. 

Richard Hildreth, who was born at Deerfield, Massa- 
chusetts, 1807, passed his fifty-eight years of life in the 
enjoyment of the highest esteem of his literary co-workers. 
Apart from his contributions to the magazines and reviews, 
Mr. Hildreth published a novel — " Archy Moore " — and 
a " Theory of Politics." 

His " History of the United States," although coming 
into comparison with the greater work of George Bancroft, 
holds high rank. 

Cleveland ascribes to Mr. Hildreth — " Strong and 
manly style, power of description and narration as a histo- 
rian. The prominent qualities of Ms mind are courage 
and honesty." 

Mr. Hildreth was for a time editor of the Neiv York 
Tribune. 

John Bach McMaster, born at Brooklyn, New York, 
in 1852, has won deserved praise by his " History of the 
People of the United States " (1883), and has added to 
our trustworthy biographies the " Life of Franklin." 

John Lothrop Motley was born at Dorchester, Massa- 
chusetts, in 1814, and died in 1877. After admission to 
practice at the bar, he determined to devote himself to a 
literary career. 

In 1839, he published a novel — "Morton's Hope" — and 
in 1849, a second one — " Merry Mount." He was also an 
active contributor to the North American Revieiv. 

In 1856 appeared his "Rise of the Dutch Republic." 

This work must be read to appreciate the vast and con- 
scientious industry which he has so lavishly bestowed upon 
it, and to understand how vividly he can depict the places. 



232 ENGLISH AND AMERICAN LITERATURE. 

the men, the deeds, of other days. At the same time, he 
is not oppressed by his materials, but has sagacity to esti- 
mate their real value ; and he has combined and arranged 
with scholarly power the facts which they contain. This 
was followed, in 1860-1865, by " The United Netherlands, 
and in 1874, by " John van Barne veldt." 

Motley, like Prescott, had the courage to undertake the 
writing of a history of a foreign people, which should be 
accepted by themselves as a classic ; and he at once placed 
himself in the front rank of historians. In addition to 
his other excellences as a historian, Mr. Motley uses a 
highly wrought but elegant style, specially calculated to 
dissipate the learner's dread of the dryness of history. 
Motley's histories were reviewed by TV. H. Prescott, Guizot, 
F. W. Palfrey, Francis Lieber, Edward Everett, and others 
competent to express critical opinions in this direction. 

The fact that Holland is occupied by a people whose tri- 
umphs have been industrial, gives her history a special 
interest for Americans, whose triumphs in war have been 
happily obscured by their victories in " the battle of life." 

Guizot says that " his style is always copious, occasion- 
ally familiar, sometimes stilted and declamatory." Prescott 
praises Motley for " research and accuracy." 

George S. Hillard credits him with "brilliant style, 
generosity of tone, penetration by the true philosophy of 
history." 

Francis Parkman was born in Boston, 1823. 

His histories unite trustworthy scholarship to grace of 
presentation : — 

The Conspiracy of Pontiac, The Jesuits in North Amer- 
ica, The Pioneers of France in the New World, Discovery 
of the Great West. 



ESSAYISTS AND HISTORIANS. 233 

William Hinckley Prescott was born in Salem, Mas- 
sachusetts, 1796. He graduated from Harvard College in 
1814, and from 1815 to 1817 travelled in Europe seeking 
relief for an affection of his eyes. Losing thus early the 
use of his eyesight, Mr. Prescott manifested the American 
quality of dauntless courage, and, in spite of the difficulty 
of working through the help of an amanuensis, became a 
profound student and a very productive writer. He con- 
tributed to the North American Review, and to " Sparks's 
American Biography." 

Of historical works he published, — 

1838. Ferdinand and Isabella, 

1843. The Conquest of Mexico. 

1845. Biographical and Critical Miscellanies. 

1847. The Conquest of Peru. 

1855-1858. Philip II. 

1856. Charles V. 

Mr. Prescott's works have become classics, and, like 
Motley's, add to their scholarly value that of a fascinating 
style. One critic says that Prescott has "rhetorical grace 
and effect ; talents artistic rather than philosophical." 

Mr. Prescott's merits have been examined by Jared 
Sparks, the Spanish Royal Academy of Madrid, Hallam, 
Humboldt, Whipple, Hillard, Tuckerman, Motley, Ban- 
croft, Ticknor, Griswold, Duyckinck, Cleveland, and others. 

Hallam terms Prescott's work " excellent history ; " Hum- 
boldt, " an enduring history ; " Hillard pronounces him " a 
classic in our language ; " and Bancroft speaks of Prescott's 
"faultless lucidity." Don Pascual de Gayangos credits 
him with " all the graces of modern scholarship, and the 
philosophical spirit of our age." Mr. Prescott died in 
1859, fuller of honors than of years. 



234 



ENGLISH AND AMERICAN LITERATURE. 



Horace B. Scudder, while possibly most generally 
known as a writer of juvenile literature, — The Boclley 
Series, — has his most lasting claim through his " History 
of the United States." This work, while charming to 
read, is unified by a perception of the idea which underlies 
the history of our country. Mr. Scudder is a frequent 
contributor to Saint Nicholas, and other magazines, so that 
those young people who read do not need to be told about 
the merits of his style. Mr. Scudder was born in Boston, 
1838. 

Supplementary List. 



[See note 
Abbott, Jacob. Me., 1803-1880. 

Celebrated Sovereigns. 
Abbott, J. S. C. Me., 1805-1877. 

Marie Antoinette. 

Madame Roland. 
Adams, Abigail. Mass., 1744-1818. 

Letters. 
Adams, C. K. Vt., 1835. 

Democracy and Monarchy in 
France. 
Adams, Hannah. Mass., 1752-1831. 

History of New England. 

History of the Jews. 
Allen, Wm. Mass., 1784-1SG8. 

Biographical and Historical Dic- 
tionary. 
Anderson, John J. N. Y., 1821. 

School Histories. 
Anderson, Rasmus B. Wis., 1846. 

Norse Mythology. 
Bancroft, George. 
Baird, H. M. Penn., 1832. 

Rise of the Huguenots in France. 
Brinton, D. G. Penn., 1837. 

Myths of the New World. 
Drake, F. S. N. H., 1828-1885. 

The Making of New England. 

The Making of the Great West. 



page 200.] 
Dun lop, W. N. N. J., 1766-1839. 

History of the American Theatre. 
Eliot, Samuel. Mass., 1821. 

The History of Liberty. 
Ellet, Mrs. Elizabeth F. N. Y., 1818- 
1877. 

Women of the American Revo- 
lution. 
Fiske, John. 
Gay, S. H. Mass., 1824. 

History of the United States. 
Gayarre', C. E. La., 1805. 

History of Louisiana. 
Greene, George W. R. L, 1811-1833. 

The American Revolution. 
Greeley, Horace. " Journalist." 

The American Conflict. 
Hiyginson, T. W. 
Hildreth, Richard. 
Irving, Washington. " Essayist." 
Johnston, Alexander. N. Y., 1849. 

Connecticut. 
Labberton, R. H. 

Historical Atlas. 
Lamb, Mrs. Mary J. R. N. Mass., 
1829. 

History of the City of New 
York. 



ESSAYISTS AND HISTORIANS. 



235 



Lea, H. C. Phila., 1825. 

History of the Inquisition. 
Lieber, Francis. Ger., 1800-1872. 

History of Civil Liberty. 
Lord, Jobn. Me., 1811. 

Beacon Ligbts of History. 
Lossing, Benj. F. N. Y., 1813. 

Field-Book of tbe American 
Revolution. 

History of tbe United States. 
Mc Master, J. B. 
Motley, J. L. 
Palfrey, J. G. Boston, 1796-1881. 

History of New England. 
Parkman, Francis. 
Parton James. England, 1822. 

Famous Americans. 



Post, Rev. Truman M. "Pulpit 
Orator." 
Tbe Sceptical Period in Western 
History. 
Prescott, Wm. H. 
Ramsay, David. Penn., 1749-1815. 
History of tbe American Revo- 
lution. 
Scudder, Horace E. 
Shea, J. G. 1824. 

The Catholic Church in the 
United States. 
Smith, T. B. Ga., 1810-1871. 

Spanish-American History. 
Waters, Mrs. Clara Erskine Clem- 
ents. Mass., 1834. 
Winsor, Justin. Boston, 1831. 
Memorial History of Boston. 



TOPICAL KfiSUMfi. 

(CHAPTER IX.) 

Characterization of Emerson and Irving, and mention of memora- 
bilia. 

Special mention made of, Benjamin, Channing, Cleveland, Dodge, 
Everett, Fields, Fuller, Giles, Hale, Hedge, Hillard, Lathrop, Reed, 
Stedman, Thoreau, Tuckerman, Weiss, Whipple, White. 

Review of the more eminent historians : Bancroft, Fiske, Hig- 
ginson, Hildreth, Motley, Parkman, Prescott, Scudder. 



WRITERS OF FICTION. 



CHAPTER X. 

writers of fiction. 
Cooper. 

James Fenimore Cooper. No writer of English, fiction 
is comparable to Cooper from a literary standpoint, unless 
it be Sir Walter Scott. 

The fact that the subjects of Cooper's novels are such as 
interest young persons, has injured his reputation with 
those who consider books that may be read by children as 
childish. But, as in the case of De Foe's "Robinson 
Crusoe," the student of literary art is soon taught to feel 
that Cooper defies imitation or rivalry. 

His works consist of, — 

1821. Precaution ; The Spy. 

1823. The Pioneers ; The Pilot. 

1825. Lionel Lincoln. 

1826. The Last of the Mohicans. 

1827. The Red Rover; The Prairie. 

1828. The Travelling Bachelor. 

1829. The Wept of Wish-ton- Wish. 

1830. The Water Witch. 

1831. The Bravo. 

1832. Heidenmauer. 

1833. The Headsman. 
1835. The Monikins. 

1838. Homeward Bound ; Home as Found. 

1839. History of the Navy of the United States ; 
Lives of American Naval Officers. 

239 



240 ENGLISH AND AMERICAN LITERATURE. 

1840. Mercedes of Castile ; The Pathfinder. 

1841. The Deerslayer. 

1842. The Two Admirals ; Wing and Wing. 

1843. Ned Myers; Wyandotte. 

1845. Afloat and Ashore. 

1846. The Red Skins. 

1847. The Crater. 

1848. Jack Tier ; Oak Openings. 

1849. The Sea Lions. 

1850. The Ways of the Hour. 

Mr. Cooper was born in New York, 1789, and died in 
1851. His works have been translated into the languages 
of all peoples who are interested in the world's literature ; 
and the records of our public libraries show a constant 
demand for them both in English and in German. All 
equally acknowledge his dominion. " Within this circle 
none dare move but he." 

Washington Irving asserts that Cooper " has left a place 
in literature not easily supplied." 

William Cullen Bryant's tribute is, that Cooper " wrote 
for mankind at large : hence it is that he has earned a fame 
wider than any author of modern times. The creations of 
his genius shall survive through centuries to come, and 
perish only with our language." 

Mr. Cooper has received attention from Bancroft, Gris- 
wold, Victor Hugo, Daniel Webster, Prescott, Bryant, 
Everett, Irving, Lewis Cass, and from the leading literary 
reviews of America, England, France, and Germany. 

The North American Review credits Cooper " with lay- 
ing the foundations of American romance," and with "being 
the first who has deserved the appellation of a distinguished 
American novel writer." 

Bancroft says, " Cooper's ' United States Navy ' is the 



WRITERS OF FICTION. 241 

work of an unsurpassed writer. It is so full of inter* 
est, and so abounding in the most vivid illustrations of 
American patriotism, enterprise, and courage, that it cannot 
be too widely circulated." 

The Edinbicrgh Review affirms that " the empire of the 
sea has been conceded to him by acclamation, and in the 
lonely desert or untrodden prairie, among the savage 
Indians or scarcely less savage settlers." 

REFERENCES FOR THE STUDENT. 

Cleveland : American Literature. 
Griswold : Prose Writers of America. 
Appleton's Cyclopaedia of American Biography. 
Chambers's Cyclopaedia of English Literature. 
Drake's Dictionary of American Biography. 
Lippincott's Biographical Dictionary. 



Hawthorne. 

Nathaniel Hawthorne holds high rank as a model of 
style, and as the delineator of early New England life. His 
works, however, have never been generally popular, as their 
problems seem too far removed from the life and experiences 
of ordinary persons. His " House of the Seven Gables," his 
"Scarlet Letter," and especially his "Marble Faun," rep- 
resent his nearest approach to popular literature. Still, to 
those who regard literature as an art, and not simply as an 
intellectual excitation, Hawthorne ranks among the greatest 
American writers of fiction. 

Nathaniel Hawthorne was born in Salem, Massachusetts, 
in 1804, had his best-known homestead at Concord, and 
died in 1864. 



242 ENGLISH AND AMERICAN LITEKATUKE. 

He published, — 

1837^1842. Twice-Told Tales. 
1846. Mosses from an Old Manse. 

1850. The Scarlet Letter. 

1851. The House of the Seven Gables. 

1852. Blithedale Romance, Grandfather's Chair, Our Old Home, 
True Stories from History and Biography. 

1868. American Note-Books. 

1870. English Note-Books, Tanglewood Tales, Life of Franklin 
Pierce. 

1871. French and Italian Note-Books, The Wonder-Book for 
Girls and Boys. 

His writings have been reviewed by Griswold, Duyc- 
kinck, Whipple, Henry James, Longfellow, Tuckerman, 
Miss Mitford, George W. Curtis, Poe, George Parsons 
Lathrop, Julian Hawthorne, F. H. Underwood, H. A. 
Page, Hutton, Cleveland, and Moses Coit Tyler. 

Longfellow pronounces his " style as clear as running 
water; external form but the representation of internal 
being." 

Tuckerman says, that he is "metaphysical or soulful; 
care in style, authenticity, artistic exposition ; reliable as 
the best of Scott ; resembles Balzac in analysis of human 
passion and consciousness ; as true to humanity as 
Dickens." 

EEFERENCES FOR THE STUDENT. 

Allibone : Dictionary of English Authors. 

Cleveland : American Literature. 

Fuller : Papers on Literature and Art. 

Griswold : Prose Writers of America. 

Poe : Literati. 

Stephen : Hours in a Library. 

Tyler : History of American Literature. 

Whipple : Literature and Life. 



WEITERS OF FICTION. 243 



Stowe. 

Mrs. Harriet Beecher Btowe has been a fertile author, 
but her two most popular works are " Uncle Tom's Cabin," 
and " Little Foxes." 

Irrespective of the merits of " Uncle Tom's Cabin " as 
a work of fiction, its political influence was so mighty, that 
Mrs. Stowe must ever be regarded as an essential factor in 
American political history. 

" Little Foxes " is among the few successful attempts to 
clothe in modern garb, truths of daily life which require 
constant enforcement, although those who need the teach- 
ing refuse to accept it in the forms so successfully used by 
Miss Edge worth, by Mrs. Hemans, by Miss Sedgwick, and 
by Mrs. Sigourney. 

Mrs. Stowe was born in Connecticut, 1812. 

Of her poems, mention should be made of " A Day in 
the Pamfili Doria," "Only a Year," and "Lines to the 
Memory of Annie." 

Some idea of Mrs. Stowe's industry may be drawn from 
a list of her publications : — 

1849. The Mayflower. 

1852. Uncle Tom's Cabin. 

1853. A Peep into Uncle Tom's Cabin, for children; A Key to 
Uncle Tom's Cabin. 

1855. The Christian Slave. 

1856. Dred. 

1859. Our Charley, and What To Do With Him. 

1860. The Minister's Wooing. 

1862. The Pearl of Orr's Island ; Agnes of Sorrento. 

1864. Sunny Memories of Foreign Lands ; House and Home 
Papers. 

1865. Little Foxes. 



244 ENGLISH AND AMERICAN LITERATURE. 

1865-66. The Chimney-Corner. 

1867. Queer Little People. 

1868. Men of our Times. 

1869. True Story of Lady Byron's Life ; Oldtown Folks. 

1870. Lady Byron vindicated. 

1871. Pink and White Tyranny. 

1872. My Wife and I. 

1873. Palmetto Leaves. 

1876. Bettys Bright Idea. 

1877. Footsteps of the Master. 

Mrs. Stowe's stories have been translated into all modern 
languages, and have received consideration from the Lon- 
don Athenceum, Edinburgh Review, North British Review, 
Blackivood 's London Quarterly Revieiv, Westminster Review, 
London Gentleman's Magazine, Revue des Deux Mondes, 
Quarterly Review. 

Cleveland assigns to Mrs. Stowe " knowledge of human 
nature, power of description, tone of Christian morality, 
truthfulness to God and to humanity, richness and beauty 
of thought and language." 

Minor Writers oe Fiction. 

Charles Brockden Brown was born in Philadelphia, 
1771, and died in 1810. He belongs to the pioneers of 
American fiction, and his stories are still read with pleas- 
ure by those who can accept portraits whose fashions are 
of the past. 

The titles of his publications are, — 

1793. Arthur Mervyn ; Edgar Huntly. 

1797. Alcuin ; a Dialogue on the Bights of Women. 

1798. Wieland. 

1799. Ormand. 
1801. Clara Howard. 



WRITERS OF FICTION. 245 

Griswold says that " he disregards rules, and cares little 
for criticism. But his style is clear and nervous, . . . free 
from affectations, indicating a singular sincerity and depth 
of feeling." 

Mrs. Frances Hodgson Burnett, although born in Eng- 
land (1849), has adopted America as the country of her 
choice, and resides in Washington, D. C. " That Lass o' 
Lowrie's," " Haworth's," and "Esmeralda" have taken 
high rank among works of fiction. Among her recent 
novels is " Miss De Farge." Her " Louisiana " is an irre- 
sistible study of local life, and its pathos is extreme. 

As a contributor to juvenile literature, Mrs. Burnett's 
" Little Lord Fauntleroy " and " Sara Crewe charm alike 
the young and the old. One of the most hopeful signs of 
the times is this address to the young, by writers who have 
achieved success in more ambitious, but no more useful, 
fields of effort. 

George W. Cable was born in New Orleans in 1844. 
His novels have been accepted as pictures of Creole life, 
although the dwellers in Louisiana repudiate them as such. 
"Madame Delphine," "The Grandissimes," "Old Creole 
Days," and " Bonaventure," are the titles of the most 
popular of Mr. Cable's stories. 

Mr. Cable's delicate literary tracery, his representations 
of the pathetic, and his fine humor promise him a reputa- 
tion which will ever be green among those whose taste 
renders their approval a gratification to a writer. 

Alice and Phoebe Gary were sisters whose beautiful 
lives are quite as interesting as the products of their pen, 
although these are closely connected therewith. They 
were born in Ohio, — Alice, in 1820, and Phoebe four years 
later. Alice died in 1870, and Phoebe in 1871. 



246 ENGLISH AND AMERICAN LITERATURE. 

Alice Gary's Poems: "Pictures from Memory," "A 
Spinster's Stint," and her " Clovernook Papers " have 
become the greatly prized possessions of readers. Phoebe's 
poem, " Nearer Home," is familiar to the household. 

Mrs. Lydia Maria Child was born at Medford, Massa- 
chusetts, in 1802, and died in 1880. Her influence upon 
the young girls of her time was alike great and beneficent. 

An idea of the volume and character of her labor as an 
author can best be presented through a list of her works. 

Hobomok, 1824. The Rebels, The Mother's Book, Women of all 
Ages and all Nations, The Girl's Book, The Coronal, Philothea, 1835. 
Letters from New York, The American Frugal Housewife, Appeal 
in Favor of Africanus, Biographies of Good Wives, Flowers for 
Children, The Family Nurse, Memoirs of Madame de Stael and 
Madame Roland, The Power of Kindness, Rose Marion, Fact and 
Fiction, Isaac T. Hopper, The Progress of Religious Ideas. 

Mrs. Child was the editor of the Anti-Slavery Standard, 
and was universally known as a philanthropist. 

John Esten Cooke was born at Winchester, Virginia, in 
1830, and died in 1886. His stories have been " Leather 
Stocking and Silk," "The Virginia Comedians," "The 
Youth of Jefferson," " Henry St. John," and " Ellie." 

These but poorly represent the volume and variety of 
Mr. Cooke's literary work, but may fairly represent him 
as a writer of fiction. 

F. Marion Crawford was born in Italy, in 1845, and is 
rapidly making his place among the greater of our novelists. 
Of his stories, " A Roman Singer," " Saracinesca," and " Paul 
Patoff " have already won an almost unqualified success. 

Edgar Fawcetfc was born in New York City, 1847. His 
poetry may be represented by "A Prayer for my Little 
One ; " and his numerous works of fiction by " The Ad- 



WRITERS OF FICTION. 247 

ventures of a Widow," " The Confessions of Claude," 
" Purple and Fine Linen," " Douglas Duane." 

Mr. Fawcett's critical article upon " Ouida " is an exceed- 
ingly happy effort. 

Francis Bret Harte was born in New York State, in 
1837. He is the creator and sole artist in a field which, 
however doubtful its ethics, is agreeable from its novelty 
and from the unrivalled skill of presentation possessed by 
the author. In the directions of rhetorical ability and 
artistic instinct, Mr. Harte's success is such as to secure 
him at least a niche in the galleries of the immortals of 
American literature. 

Of his poems the following are at once popular and 
characteristic : — 

Chicago, Chiquita, Dow's Flat, Her Letter, His Answer to Her 
Letter, In the Tunnel, Jim, Plain Language from Truthful James, 
Songs of the Sierras, The Heathen Chinee, and To a Pliocene Skull. 

Of his prose stories, may be mentioned, — 
A Millionaire of Rough and Ready, A Phyllis of the Sierras. 

Julian Hawthorne has devoted himself to the career of 
his father, and has achieved a success as a novelist, which 
is sometimes obscured by unfair comparison with the more 
mature efforts of Nathaniel Hawthorne. 

He was born at Boston, in 1846, and, after a prolonged 
residence in England has made his home in New York 
City, where his pen is constantly busy. 

" Bresant," " Dust," " Garth," " Idolatry,"' and " Sinfire " 
may serve to represent his works. 

Charles Fenno Hoffman was born in New York, in 
1806, and died in 1884. He is the author of the well- 



248 ENGLISH AND AMERICAN LITERATURE. 

known song, " Sparkling and Bright," and of the poems 
" Monterey " and " The Vigil of Faith." 

His novels have the titles, " Greyslaer," "Vanderlyn," 
" Wild Scenes in Forest and Prairie." 

He was editor of The Knickerbocker Magazine and of 
The American Monthly Magazine. 

Griswold credits him with "graphic delineations of 
nature, spirited sketches of men and manners, and richness 
and purity of style." 

Allibone cites the opinion of H. T. Tuckerman : " For 
some of the best convivial, amatory, and descriptive poetry 
of native origin, we are indebted to Charles Fenno Hoff- 
man. The woods and streams, the feast and the vigil, are 
reflected in his verse with a graphic truth and sentiment 
that evidence an eye for the picturesque, a sense of the 
adventurous, and a zest for pleasure." 

Miss Blanche Willis Howard (Maine, 1847) has been 
quite versatile in her efforts. Beginning her career with a 
very happy but light novelette, "One Summer," she next 
published " Guenn," a work which displayed powers cal- 
culated to bring Miss Howard's name into consideration 
among those interested in discussing the possible successor 
of George Eliot. Since the appearance of " Guenn," Miss 
Howard has published " Aulnay Tower," " Aunt Serena," 
and other stories, each of which is unlike the others. 

William Dean Howells has become favorably known 
through his poems, his novels and novelettes, and as editor 
of the Atlantic, and of Harper s. 

He was born in Ohio, in 1837, and after making consid- 
erable reputation, was called to Boston, to take charge of 
the Atlantic. 

Mr. Stedman credits Howells with special ability in 



WRITERS OF FICTION. 249 

judging of "Existing Tendencies." "The Lady of the 
Aroostook," U A Chance Acquaintance," "A Foregone 
Conclusion," "Doctor Breen's Practice," "Counterfeit 
Presentments," " A Woman's Reason," " A Modern In- 
stance " are stories whose success there has been none to 
dispute. 

Joseph H. Ingraham, through his " Prince of the House 
of David," inaugurated the form of religious fiction. Mr. 
Ingraham was born in North Carolina, 1809, and died in 
1866. 

"Lafitte," "Captain Kyd," "The Throne of David," are 
titles of stories which have been favorites. 

Henry James, Jr., is recognized as among the most pop- 
ular of American novelists. He was born in New York, 
in 1843. He has devoted himself to the profession of 
authorship, and his success has vindicated his choice. 

Of his more popular stories there may be named " The 
European," " The American," " Roderick Hudson," "Daisy 
Miller," " Washington Square." 

* Jobn P. Kennedy (Maryland, 1795-1870) wrote nov- 
els called " Horse-Shoe Robinson," " Swallow Barn," and 
" Rob of the Bowl." 

Kennedy's stories have, like all novels, lost their popu- 
lar interest as fashions of thought have changed, but they 
are as essential to a knowledge of the history of Ameri- 
can Literature, as the name of Boone in any account of the 
early hunters. 

Griswold's characterization is as follows: "Altogether 
one of our most genial, lively, and agreeable writers. His 
style is airy, easy, and graceful, but various, and always in 
keeping with his subject. He excels, both as a describer, 
and as a raconteur" 



250 ENGLISH AND AMEBIC AN LITERATURE. 

Donald G-. Mitchell (Connecticut, 1822) is better 
known by his nom de plume, "Ik Marvel." " Dream Life," 
and " The Reveries of a Bachelor," at once became a com- 
mon possession of readers. None who have enjoyed an 
acquaintance with "Ik Marvel" will be disposed to deny 
G. S. Hillard's praise : " Prose graphic and musical, poeti- 
cal in spirit, and characterized by purity, as well as by 
tenderness of feeling." 

Miss Mary H. Murfree, better known by her nom de 
plume of " Charles Egbert Craddock," was born in Tennes- 
see, and now resides in St. Louis. Her success as a writer 
of genre fiction was instantaneous and pronounced. 

But Miss Murfree's industry has found occupation also 
in contributions to the St. Nicholas, and she shares the 
praise awarded to Mrs. Burnett. 

Elizabeth Stuart Phelps Ward was born in 1844, in 
Massachusetts. 

Her " Gates Ajar " is well known to multitudes of 
readers, and her busy pen has been stimulated by the wel- 
come accorded to her productions. 

William Gilmore Binims, known as "the poet-novel- 
ist," was born in South Carolina, and lived, 1806-1870. 

Of his poems, the favorites are, "Atlantis," "Lyrical 
and other Poems," "Areytos," and "The City of the Si- 
lent." " Mellichampe," " The Partisan," " The Yemassee," 
" The Cassique of Kiawah," " Eutaw," " Border Beagles," 
" Beauchampe," and " Vasconcelos," may represent his 
novels. 

He also wrote "A History of South Carolina," "The 
Lives of Marion and Chevalier Bayard," " Views and Re- 
views of American History, Literature, and Fiction," and 
an indefinite number of pamphlets. He was an editor of 
the Southern Literary Gfazette. 



WRITERS OF FICTION. 251 

Frank H. Stockton is best known as the creator of a 
peculiar form of the humorous story, such as " The Lady 
or the Tiger," "Mrs. Leeks and Mrs. Aleshine," and 
"■Rudder Grange." But in his " Hundredth Man," Mr. 
Stockton displays high merits as a novelist. 

In the St. Nicholas, Mr. Stockton appears to advantage 
as a writer of juvenile literature. 

William "Ware was born at Hingham, Massachusetts, 
in 1797, and by profession was a Unitarian minister. He 
died in 1852. 

His " Zenobia," " Probus," "Julian," and " Aurelian," re- 
produced in effective form the spirit of classical antiquity, 
and remain as masterpieces of their form of composition. 

Tuckerman says that Ware " rivalled Lockhart." 

Harriet Martineau declares that "there is not a trace of 
modern habits or modes of thinking ; and if Ware had been 
possessed by the monomania of Macpherson or Chatterton, 
it would have rested with himself to produce these letters as a 
close and literal version of manuscripts of the third century." 

Mrs. A, D. T. Whitney was born in Boston, 1824. 

Her books are healthy in influence and permanent in 
interest to readers whose good opinion is worth gaining. 

"The Gayworthys," "Hitherto," "Faith Gartney's 
Girlhood," represent her work. 

Mrs. Whitney has been a frequent contributor to the 
Atlantic Monthly. 

Theodore Winthrop was born in Connecticut, in 1829, 
and died in battle in 1861. 

" Cecil Dreeme," " John Brent," and " Edwin Brother- 
toft," are the titles of his novels. 

" Life in the Open Air " is a collection of short sketches 
which will well repay the reading. 



252 



ENGLISH AND AMERICAN LITERATURE. 



Triibner says that Winthrop " displays a wonderful 
power of imagination," and as was said of Hazlitt, the praise 
given Winthrop in George William Curtis's introduction 
to Iris works " was almost worth dying for." 



Supplementary List. 

[See note, page 200.] 



Abbott, Jacob. "Historian." 

Caleb in the Country. 

Caleb in Town. 
Aldrich, T. B. " Poet." 
Bellamy, Edward. Mass., 1850. 

Looking Backward. 
Beecher, H. W. " Pulpit Orator." 

Norwood. 
Bishop, W. H. Conn., 1817. 

The House of a Merchant Prince. 
Boyesen, H. H. Norway, 1848. 

Ilka on the Hill-Top. 
Brown, C. B. 
Bunner, H. C. "Poet." 

Woman of Honor. 
Burnett, Mrs. Frances Hodgson. 
Bynner, E. L. 

Story of a N. Y. House. 
Cable, Geo. W. 
Cary, Alice. 
Cary, Phoebe. 
Chesebro, Caroline. N. Y., 1825-1870. 

The Foe in the Household. 
Child, Lydia M. 
Conant, S. S. Me., 1831-1835. 

Hercules, a Hero. 
Cooke, J. E. 
Cooke, Mrs. Rose Terry. " Poet." 

Somebody's Neighbors. 
Cooper, J. F. 
Crawford, F. Marion. 
Cummins, Mrs. M. S. Mass., 1827- 
18G6. 

The Lamplighter. 



Curtis, Geo. W. " Orator." 

Prue and I. 

Tramps. 

Nile Notes of a Howadji. 
Davis, Rebecca Harding. W. Va., 

1831. 
Eggleston, Edward. Ind., 1837. 

The Hoosier Schoolmaster. 

History of United States. 
Fawcett, Edgar. 

Gilmore, J. R. "Edmund Kirke." 
Mass., 1823. 

Among the Pines. 
Habberton, John. N. Y., 1842. 

Helen's Babies. 

Brereton's Bayou. 
Hardy, A. C. Mass., 1847. 
Harris, Joel Chandler. Ga., 1846. 

Uncle Remus. 
Harris, Mrs. Miriam Cole. N.Y.,1834. 

Rutledge. 
Harte, Bret. 
Hawthorne, Julian. 
Hawthorne, Nathaniel. 
Hentz, Mrs. Caroline Lee. Mass., 
1804-1856. 

The Moorish Bride. 
" Henry Hayes." Phila. 

The Story of Margaret Kent. 
Higginson, T. W. "Historian." 
Hildreth, Richard. " Historian." 
Hoffman, Chas. Fenno. 
Holland, J. G. "Poet." 
Holmes, O. W. " Poet," 



WRITERS OF FICTION. 



253 



Howard, Blanche W. 
Howe, E. W. Iowa, 1854. 

The Story of a Country Town. 
Ingraham, Rev. Jos. H. Me., 1809- 

1866. 
Jackson, Mrs. Helen Hunt. "H. 
H." Mass., 1831-1885. 

Ramona. 
James, Henry. 
Jewett, Sarah Orne. Me., 1849. 

Country By- Ways. 
Judd, Sylvester. Mass., 1813-1853. 

Margaret; a Tale of the Real 
and the Ideal. 
Kennedy, J. P. 
Kouns, N. C. Mo., 1853. 

Arius the Libyan. 
Lanier, Sidney. " Poet." 
Lathrop, G. P. "Essayist." 
Longfellow, H. W. " Poet." 
Lowell, R. T. S. " Poet." 

The New Priest in Conception 
Bay. 
Mitchell, Donald G. " Ik Marvel." 
Mitchell, S. Weir. " Poet." 

Doctor and Patient. 
Mitchell, Walter. Mass., 1826. 

Bryan Maurice. 
Murfree, Mary N. "Chas. Egbert 
Craddock." Tenn., 1850. 

In the Tennessee Mountains. 
Neal, John. " Poet." 

Seventy-Six. 
Page, Thos. Nelson. Va. 

Marse Chan. 
Parton, Mrs. S. S. " Fanny Fern." 
Me., 1811-1872. 

Ruth Hall. 
Phelps, Mrs. Elizabeth Stuart. 
Mass., 1844. 

Doctor Zay. 

Gates Ajar. 
Prentiss, Mrs. E. P. Me., 1818-1878. 

Stepping Heavenward. 



Preston, Harriet Waters. Mass. 

A Year in Eden. 
Preston, Mrs. Margaret J. "Poet." 
Reeves, Mrs. Marian C. L. 

A Little Maid of Acadie. 
Rives, Miss Amelie. "Poet." 

A Brother to Dragons. 
Roe, A. S. N. Y„ 1798-1886. 

A Long Look Ahead. s 
Roe, E. P. N. Y., 1838-1887. 

Barriers Burned Away. 

Opening of a Chestnut Burr. 
Sedgwick, Mrs. Catherine M. Mass., 

1789-1867. 
Seenniller, Mrs. Annie M. Crane. 
Md., 1838-1872. 

Emily Chester. 

Opportunity. 
Severance, Mark Sibley. 

Hammersmith. 
Simms, W. G. " Poet." 
Spofford, Mrs. Harriet P. Me., 
1835. 

The Amber Gods. 
Stimson, F. J. Mass., 1855. 

Guerndale. 
Stockton, Frank R. 
Story, W. W. " Poet." 

Rabadi Roma. 
Stowe, Mrs. H. B. 
Taylor, Bayard. "Poet." 
Taylor, Benj. F. " Poet." 

Theophilus Trent. 
Terhune, Mrs. M. V. " Marion 
Harland." Va. 

Alone. 

Nemesis. 

Sunny-Bank. 
Thompson, Maurice. Ind., 1844. 

Tallahassee Girl. 
Tincker, Mary A. Me., 1833. 

Signor Monaldini's Niece. 
Tourgee, A. W. O., 1838. 

A Fool's Errand. 



254 



ENGLISH AND AMERICAN LITERATURE. 



Wallace, Gen. Lew. 'Ind., 1838. 

Ben Hur. 
Ware, Wm. 
"Warner, Anne. N. Y., 1870. 

Dollars and Cents. 
Warner, Susan. " Elizabeth Weth- 
erell." 1818-1885. 

Queechy. 

The Wide, Wide World. 
Whitney, Mrs. A. D. T. 



Wilson, Mrs. A. J. E. Ala., 1835. 

Macaria. 

St. Elmo. 

Beulah. 
Winthrop, Theodore. 
Woolson, Constance Fenimore. N.H. 

Castle Nowhere. 
Wyman, Lillie B. Chase. " Octave 
Thanet." 

The Bishop's Vagabond. 



TOPICAL RESUME. 

(CHAPTER X.) 

American Fiction. 

Special mention of Cooper, Hawthorne, and Mrs. Stowe. 

Menton made of, Brown, Burnett, Cary, Gary, Child, Cooke, 
Crawford, Harte, Julian Hawthorne, Hoffman, Howard, Howells, 
Ingraham, James, Kennedy, Mitchell, Murfree, Phelps, Sedgwick, 
Simms, Stockton, Ware, Whitney, Winthrop. 

Resources furnished in the matter of histories of literature, collec- 
tions of prose and poetry, and critical essays. 



HISTORIES OF LITERATURE, 
ANTHOLOGIES, 

AND 

WORKS OF CRITICISM. 



CHAPTER XI. 

HISTOEIES OF LITERATURE, ANTHOLOGIES, ETC. 

The fields of effort represented by the history of litera- 
ture, selections from the best or most popular authors, and 
of critical examination of literary merits, have been sedu- 
lously cultivated in a country where the desire to know 
outruns the command of resources such as are afforded by 
libraries whose extent is determined by the pleasure of 
the owner. It is safe to say that the work of Lowell, 
Snider, Stedman, and Whipple, is fully equal, if not 
superior, to the productions of British students ; that col- 
lections such as Parnassus, Library of Poetry and Song, 
and the Household Book of Poetry, are, in their several 
ways, in no wise inferior to Ward's English Poets, or 
Chambers's Cyclopaedia of English Literature ; and that 
some of the smaller collections are more fully representa- 
tive of characteristic effort of British writers than similar 
undertakings produced on British soil. 



Adams, Oscar Fay. 

Handbooks of English and 
American Authors. 
Adams, W. H. D. London, 1829. 

Dictionary of English Literature. 
Aid en, John. 

Dictionary of Contemporary Bi- 
ography. 
Allibone, S. Austin. Phila., 1816. 

Dictionary of English Authors. 



Bacon, Delia. Mich., 1811-1859. 

Philosophy of Shakespeare. 
Bascom, John. "Educator." 

Philosophy of English Litera- 
ture. 
Bartlett, John. Mass., 1820. 

Familiar Quotations. 
Beers, Henry A. N. Y., 1847. 

A Century of American Litera- 
ture. 



257 



258 



ENGLISH AND AMERICAN LITERATURE. 



Bethune, Geo. "W*. " Pulpit Orator." 

British Female Poets. 
Blaisdell, A. F. 

Outline Study of English Clas- 
sics. 
Blake, J. L. N.H., 1788-1857. 

Biographical Dictionary. 
Blow, Miss Susie E. " Educator." 

A Study of Dante. 
Botta, Mrs. A. C. L. Vt., 1820. 

Handbook of Universal Litera- 
ture. 
Brackett, Miss A. C. " Educator." 

Poetry for Home and School. 
Brokmeyer, Gov. H. C. Prussia, 
1828. 

Letters on Faust. 
Bryant, W. C. " Poet." 

Library of Poetry and Song. 
Bryant, Wm. M. Ohio, 1811. 

Philosophy of Art. 

Landscape Painting. 
Cheever, Geo. B. "Pulpit Orator." 

Commonplace Book of Prose. 

Studies in Poetry. 
Child, F. J. " Editor." 

English and Scottish Popular 
Ballads. 
Cleveland, C. D. "Essayist." 

English Literature. 
— American Literature. 

English Literature of the Nine- 
teenth Century. 
Coggeshall, W. T. Penn., 1824. 

Poets and Poetry of the West. 
Corson, Hiram. " Philologist." 

Chaucer. 

Browning. 
Dana, C. A. " Journalist." 

Household Book of Poetry. 
Davidson, J. W. S. C, 1829. 

Living "Writers of the South. 
Drake, F. S. Mass., 1828. 

Dictionary of American Biogra- 
phy- 



Duyckinck, E. A. N. Y., 1816-1870. 

Cyclopaedia of American Litera- 
ture. 

National Portrait Gallery of Dis- 
tinguished Americans. 
Emerson, R. TV. " Essayist," 

Parnassus. 
Fiske, John. "Historian." 

Appleton's Cyclopaedia of Biog- 
raphy. 
Fuller, Margaret. "Essayist." 
Furness, Mrs. H. H. 1837-1882. 

Concordance to Shakespeare's 
Poems. 

Papers on Literature and Art. 
Genung, J. F. N. Y., 1850. 

In Memoriam. 
Griswold, Rufus TVilmot. Vt., 1815- 
1857. 

Poets and Poetry of America. 

Prose Writers of America. 

Female Poets of America. 
Hart, John S. Mass., 1810-1877. 

Class-Book of Poetry. 

Class-Book of Prose. 

Female Prose Writers of Amer- 
ica. 
Hillard, Geo. S. " Essayist." 
Holmes, Judge Nath. N. H., 1814. 

Authorship of Shakespeare. 
Holland, Rev. R. A. " Pulpit Ora- 
tor." 

The Soul of Shelley. 
Hosmer, Jas. K. Mass., 1834. 

History of German Literature. 
Hudson, Henry N. Vt., 1814-1886. 

Life, Art, and Characters of 
Shakespeare. 
Johnson, R. M. " Editor." 

English Classics. 
Kroeger, A. E. "Metaphysician." 

The Minnesingers. 
Lawrence, Eugene. N. Y., 1823. 

Primer of Literature. 
Lippincott's Biographical Dictionary. 



HISTORIES OF LITERATURE, ETC. 



259 



Lowell, J. R. "Poet." 

A Fable for the Critics. 
y Among my Books. 

My Study Windows. 
March, Geo. P. "Philologist." 

English Language and Litera- 
ture. 
Morgan, H. H. " Educator." 

Browning. 

Chaucer. 

Holland. 

Spencer. 

Literary Studies of the Great 
British Authors. 

Representative Names in Eng- 
lish Literature. 

Topical Shakespeariana. 
Perry, T. A. R. I., 1845. 

English Literature of the Eigh- 
teenth Century. 
Read, T. B. " Poet." 

Female Poets of America. 
Reed, Henry. " Essayist." 

Lectures on English Literature. 
Richardson, Mrs. Abby Sage. 

Primer of American Literature. 
Richardson, Chas G. Me., 1831. 
# American Literature. 
Rolfe, W. J. " Editor." 

English Classics. 
Simms, W. G. "Poet." 

"War Poetry of the South. 
Snider, Denton J. Ohio, 1841. 

Homer. 

Dante. 

Shakespeare. 

Goethe. 



Stedman, E. C. " Essayist." 

American Poets. 

Library of American Litera- 
ture. 

Victorian Poets. 
Stoddard, R. H. l( Poet." 

Bric-a-Brac Series. 
Swinton, Wm. Scotland, 1833. 

Studies in American Literature. 
Taylor, Bayard. " Poet." 

History of German Literature. 
Ticknor, George. Boston, 1791-1876. 

History of Spanish Literature. 
Tiffany, O. H. " Pulpit Orator." 

Gems for the Fireside. 
Tyler, Moses Coit. Conn., 1835. 

History of American Literature. 
Underwood, F. H. " Biographer." 
/ Hand-Book of American Litera- 
ture. 

Hand-Book of English Litera- 
ture. 
Wallace, H. B. " Essayist." 

Literary Criticisms. 
Ward, Mrs. Mary A. 

Dante. 
Welsh, A. H. Ohio, 1850. 

English Language and Litera- 
ture. 
Whipple, E. P. f* Essayist." 

Essays and Reviews. 
Wilkinson, W. C. Mass., 1833. 

A Free Lance in the Field of 
Life and Letters. 
To these may be added the Standard 
School Readers. 



Humorists. 



Adams, C. F. Mass., 1842. 

Bailey, J. M. N. Y., 1841. "Dan- 
bury Newsman." 

Brackenridge, H. H. Scotland, 
1748-1816. 



Browne, C. F. Me., 1834-1867. "Ar- 

temus Ward." 
Burdette, R. J. Penn., 1844. 
Clemens, Sam'l W. Mo., 1835. 

" Mark Twain." 



260 



ENGLISH AND AMERICAN LITERATURE. 



Cozzens, Fred A. N. Y , 1818-1860. 
" Sparrowgrass." 

Derby, Geo. H. Mass., 1824-1861. 
" John Phoenix." 

Haliburton, T. C. N. S., 1802-1865. 
" Sam Slick." 

Holly Marietta. " Josiah Allen's 
Wife." 

Locke, D. R. 1833-1887. " Petro- 
leum V. Nasby." 

Lowell, J. R. " Poet." 

Neal, J. C. N. H., 1807-1848. 

Newell, Robt. H. N. Y., 1836. "Or- 
pheus C. Kerr." 



Nye, Bill. 

O'Rell, Max. 

Paulding, Jas. K. N. Y., 1719-1816. 

Shaw, H. W. Mass., 1818. " Josh 
Billings." 

Shillaber, B. P. N. H.,1814. "Mrs. 
Partington." 

Smith, Seba. Me., 1792-1868. "Jack 
Downing." 

Strother, D. P. Va., 1816. " Porte- 
Crayon." 

Thompson, Mortimer H. N. Y. , 1830- 
1875. "Doesticks." 

Warner, Chas. Dudley. " Editor." 



Juvenile Literature. 



Abbott, Jacob. "Historian." 

Adams, W. T. " Oliver Optic." 
Mass., 1812. 

Alcott, Louisa M. Penn . , 1 832-1888. 

Alden,Mrs. J.M. "Pansy." N.Y., 
1841. 

Alger, Horatio, Jr. Mass., 1834. 

Arthur, T. S. N. Y., 1809-1885. 

Bolton, Sarah K. 

Boyesen, H. H. " Novelist." 

Brooks, E. S. 

Burnett, Mrs. Frances H. "Nov- 
elist." 

Castlemon, H. 

Champlin, J. D. Conn., 1834. 

diaries worth, Mrs. Maria L. 

Coffin, C. C. N. H., 1823. 

Dana, R. H., Jr. Mass., 1815. 

Ellis, E. S. 



Gladden, Rev. S. W. Penn., 1836. 
Goodrich, S. G. Conn., 1793-1860. 
Hale, Edw. Everett. "Essayist." 
Hale, Mrs. Susan. 
Higginson, T. W. "Historian." 
Kellogg, Elijah. Me., 1813. 
Knox, T. W. N. H., 1835. 
Lanier, Sidney. " Poet." 
Luska, Sidney. " Novelist." 
Perry, Nora. " Poet." 
Reid, Mayne. Ireland, 1818. 
Rollins, Mrs. Alice. W. " Pcet." 
Scvdder, Horace E. " Historian." 
Sigourney, Mrs. L. H. 
Spcfford, Mrs. H. P. " Poet." 
Stockton, Frank R. " Novelist.' 
Stoddard, W. O. N. Y., 1835. 
Trowbridge, J. T. N. Y., 1847. 



INDEX TO ENGLISH AUTHORS. 



Addison, Joseph, 70 
Alison, Sir Archibald, 171 

Bacon, Francis, 34 
Baxter, Kichard, 64 
Beaumont, Francis, 51 
Berkeley, George, 64 
Bolingbroke, Lord, 64 
Bos well, James, 81 
Banyan, John, 64 
Buckle, Henry T., 105 
Bulwer, Sir Edward, 132 
Burke, Edmund, 101 
Butler, Samuel, 64 
Burns, Robert, 110 
Brougham, Henry, 105 
Browning, E. B., 139 
Browning, Robert, 144 
Byron, Lord, 121 

Caxton, Win., 15, 65 
Campbell, Thomas, 158 
Carlyle, Thomas, 133 
Chaucer, Geoffrey, 15 
Chatterton, Thomas, 81 
Congreve, William, 64 
Collins, William, 81 
Cowper, William, 108 
Coleridge, Samuel T., 115 
Croly, George, 170 

DeFoe, Daniel, 77 
Dryden, John, 67 



De Quincey, Thomas, 137 
Dickens, Charles, 149 

Eliot, George, 154 

Fielding, Henry, 82 
Fletcher, John, 51 
Froude, James A., 173 

Garrick, David, 81 
Gibbon, Edward, 96 
Goldsmith, Oliver, 94 
Grote, George, 152 
Gray, Thomas, 90 

Hallam, Henry, 129 
Hazlitt, William, 165 
Hemans, Felicia, 105 
Hood, Thomas, 167 
Hume, David, 87 
Hyde, Edward, 65 

Jeffrey, Francis, 160 
Jerrold, Douglas, 106 
Johnson, Samuel, 84 
Jonson, Ben, 48 

Keats, John, 127 

Lamb, Charles, 162 
Lingard, John, 162 
Locke, John, 65 
Lockhart, J. G., 105 



261 



262 



IXDEX TO ENGLISH AUTHORS. 



Macaulay, T. B., 130 
Marlowe, Christopher, 46 
Massinger, Philip, 53 
Mackintosh, James, 105 
Milton, John, 56 
Moore, Thomas, 159 
Montagu, Mary W., 82 
Montgomery, James, 105 

Xewton, Isaac, 64 

Otway, Thomas, 64 

Palgrave, Francis, 105 
Percy, Bishop, 81 
Pope, Alexander, 73 

Reade, Charles, 106 
Robertson, William, 92 
Ruskin, John, 172 
Richardson, Samuel, 81 
Russell, W. F., 106 
Russell, Rachel, 82 

Scott, Sir Walter, 119 
Shakespeare, William, 38 



Sheridan, Richard B., 82 
Shelley, Percy B., 125 
Southey, Robert, 156 
Smith, Sidney, 106 
Spenser, Edmund, 28 
Stanhope, Philip, 98 
Steele, Richard, 64 
Sterne, Lawrence, 100 
Swift, Jonathan, 78 

Temple, William, 72 
Tennyson, Alfred, 142 
Thackeray, William M., 151 
Thomson, James, 99 
Turner, Sharon, 105 

Udall, Nicholas, 14 

Walpole, Horace, 82 
Watts, Isaac, 64 
Wilson, John, 105 
Wolfe, Charles, 105 
Wordsworth, William, 112 
Wycherley, William, 64 

Young, Edward, 65 



INDEX TO AMERICAN AUTHORS. 



Aldrich, T. B., 196 

Bancroft, George, 229 
Benjamin, S. G. W., 218 
Boker, George H., 196 
Bryant, William Cullen, 178 
Brown, C. B., 244 
Burritt, Elilm, 219 
Burnett, Frances H., 245 

Cable, George W., 245 
Gary, Alice, 245 
Cary, Phoebe, 245 
Child, Lydia M., 246 
Cbanning, W. E., 219 
Cleveland, C. D., 219 
Cooper, James F., 239 
Cooke, Jolm E., 246 
Crawford, F. Marion, 246 

Dana, Ei chard H., 196 
Dodge, M. A., 219 
Drake, James K., 196 

Emerson, Balph Waldo, 210 
Everett, A. H., 219 

Fawcett, Edgar, 246 
Fiske, John, 230 
Franklin, Benjamin, 217 
Fields, James T., 220 
Freneau, Pbilip, 196 
Fuller, Margaret, 220 



Giles, Henry, 220 

Hayne, Paul H., 197 
Hale, Ed ward E., 221 
Harte, Bret, 247 
Halleck, Fitz-Greene, 197 
Hawthorne, Julian, 247 
Hawthorne, Nathaniel, 241 
Hedge, F. H., 221 
Hillard, George S., 221 
Hildretb, Richard, 231 
Higginson, T. W., 230 
Hoffman, C. F., 247 
Holmes, Oliver W., 190 
Holland, J. G., 197 
Howe, Julia Ward, 198 
Ho wells, W. D., 248 
Howard, D. W., 248 

Ingraham, J. H., 249 
Irving, Washington, 214 

James, Henry, Jr., 249 

Kennedy, John P., 249 

Lanier, Sidney, 198 
Lathrop, George P., 222 
Longfellow, Henry W., 180 
Lowell, James R., 191 

McMaster, J. B., 231 
Miller, Joaquin, 198 



263 



264 



INDEX TO AMERICAN AUTHOES. 



Motley, John L., 231 
Mitchell, D. G., 250 
Murfree, Mary N., 250 

Parkman, Francis, 232 
Prescott, William H., 233 
Poe, Edgar Allan, 185 

Read, T. Buchanan, 198 
Reed, Henry, 222 

Saxe, John G., 199 
Sanborn, F. B., 222 
Scudder, Horace E., 234 
Sigourney, Lydia H.,223 
Simms, W. G., 250 
Stedman, E. C, 223 
Stoddard, Richard H., 199 
Stockton, Frank R., 251 



Stowe, Harriet B., 243 

Taylor, Bayard, 194 
Thaxter, Celia E., 199 
Thoreau, Henry D., 223 
Timrod, Henry, 199 
Trowbridge, John T., 200 
Tuckerman, N. T„ 224 

Ware, Wm., 251 
Ward, Elizabeth, 250 
Weiss, John, 224 
Whipple, E. P., 224 
White, R. G., 225 
Whittier, John G., 187 
Whitman, Walt, 200 
Whitney, A. D. T., 251 
Willis, N. P., 200 
Winthrop, Theodore, 251 



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IBM'S ENGLISH »1 AMERICAN LITERATURE, 

and to furnish in attractive and inexpensive form the best 

English and American texts, the publishers 

have in preparation the 

STUDENTS' SERIES <* 

ENGLISH CLASSICS. 



THESE texts will have abundant notes, and descriptions, 
brief biographical sketches, historical introductions, with 
full directions as to how an Oration, Poem, or Essay should 
be studied. To meet the wants of all Schools and Colleges, 
they will be bound separately, or two or more in one volume. 
Full announcements will, from time to time, be given to the 
educational public. 

Among the first to be published, and which will be ready 
in April, 1889, are the following, texts which are required for 
admission by the 1ST. E. Association of Colleges for 1890, and 
placed in the Catalogues of many other Colleges and Universities 
in different sections of the country : 

Webster's First Bunker-Hill Oration ; Coleridge's 
Ancient Mariner; Macaulay's Essay on Lord Clive. 

These books are prepared by Professors and Instructors in 
the Literature Department of Wellesley College, and 
should receive the attention of every teacher in the department 
of English and American literature. 



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